Which to use
“antigo” and “ártico” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,233
- “antigo” frequency rank
- #19,603
- “ártico” frequency rank
- 20836
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | antigo | ártico |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | de épocas passadas | do norte; boreal |
Where the eye mixes antigo and ártico
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. antigo and ártico follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses antigo with ártico
A purely visual mix-up. antigo (/ɐ̃.ˈti.ɡu/) and ártico (/ˈaɾ.ti.ku/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20836, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
antigo is recorded at frequency rank #1,233, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɐ̃.ˈti.ɡu/. ártico is at rank #19,603, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈaɾ.ti.ku/.
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 20836, this pair ranks #49,581 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of antigo vs ártico
Shared letters: iot. Private to "antigo": agn. Private to "ártico": crá.
"antigo" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "ártico" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- antigo ← anitgo · anntigo · antgio · antiggo · antiog · anttigo · atnigo · natigo
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "antigo" for "ártico" ever safe?
Frequency check: "antigo" vs "ártico" - which ranks higher?
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 "antigo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ártico" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,581 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "antigo" and "ártico" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apático vs ártico". 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 #49,581 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.