ao vs apo, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ao” is a contraction and “apo” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27
“ao” frequency rank: #45,685
“apo” frequency rank: 45712
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ao	apo
Definition	contração da preposição a com o artigo definido o	atar, juntar, ligar.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ao and apo apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

2 ch

3 ch

apo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ao is /aw/ while apo is /ˈa.poː/.. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (contraction vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45712, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ao is recorded at frequency rank #27, classified as acontraction, pronounced /aw/. apo is at rank #45,685, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈa.poː/..

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 45712, this pair ranks #19,686 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ao vs apo

Shared letters: ao. Private to "ao": -. Private to "apo": p.

"ao" · 2 letters · shape VV · "apo" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequency comparison

ao#27

apo#45,685

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ao" and "apo" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ao" is a contraction and "apo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "ao" or "apo"?

"ao" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27 in our Portuguese list, against #45,685 for "apo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering ao vs apo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a contraction, it's “ao”; for a verb, it's “apo”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ao” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable