apagadovsapuradoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,658
“apagado” frequency rank
#26,628
“apurado” frequency rank
40286
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apagado apurado
Definition extinto obtido, calculado

Where the eye mixes apagado and apurado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. apagado and apurado follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
apagado
7 ch
apurado

Why the eye confuses apagado with apurado

A purely visual mix-up. apagado (/ɐ.pɐ.ˈɡa.du/) and apurado (/ɐ.pu.ˈɾa.du/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40286, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apagado is recorded at frequency rank #13,658, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɐ.pɐ.ˈɡa.du/. apurado is at rank #26,628, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɐ.pu.ˈɾa.du/.

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 40286, this pair ranks #25,850 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of apagado vs apurado

Shared letters: adop. Private to "apagado": g. Private to "apurado": ru.

"apagado" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "apurado" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apagadoaapgado · apaagdo · apagaddo · apagaod · apagdao · apaggado · apgaado · appagado
  • apuradoappurado · apruado · apuardo · apuraddo · apuraod · apurdao · apurrado · auprado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "apagado" for "apurado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.pɐ.ˈɡa.du/ versus /ɐ.pu.ˈɾa.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "apagado" or "apurado"?
"apagado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,658 in our Portuguese list, against #26,628 for "apurado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "apagado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apurado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,850 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "apagado" and "apurado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apurado vs arado". 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 #25,850 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