ânsiavsapneiaTell them apart

Which to use

“ânsia” and “apneia” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#19,892
“ânsia” frequency rank
#48,239
“apneia” frequency rank
68131
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ânsia apneia
Definition aflição suspensão temporária ou pausa da respiração em certos casos mórbidos

Where the eye mixes ânsia and apneia

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
ânsia
6 ch
apneia

Visual trap between ânsia and apneia

A purely visual mix-up. ânsia (/ˈɐ̃.sjɐ/) and apneia (/ɐ.ˈpnɐj.ɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68131, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ânsia is recorded at frequency rank #19,892, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɐ̃.sjɐ/. apneia is at rank #48,239, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈpnɐj.ɐ/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 68131, this pair ranks #4,389 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ânsia vs apneia

Shared letters: ain. Private to "ânsia": . Private to "apneia": ep.

"ânsia" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV  ·  "apneia" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apneiaanpeia · apenia · apneai · apniea · apnneia · appneia · paneia

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ânsia" for "apneia" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɐ̃.sjɐ/ versus /ɐ.ˈpnɐj.ɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ânsia" or "apneia"?
"ânsia" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,892 in our Portuguese list, against #48,239 for "apneia". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ânsia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apneia" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,389 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ânsia" and "apneia" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apneia vs ateia". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #4,389 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list