apagarvsapelarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,285
“apagar” frequency rank
#16,444
“apelar” frequency rank
20729
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apagar apelar
Definition fazer desaparecer (raspando, etc.) chamar em socorro

Letter map: apagar vs apelar

Shared letters muted; letters that set apagar and apelar apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. apagar and apelar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
apagar
6 ch
apelar

Corpus notes: apagar and apelar

apagar and apelar are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20729, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apagar is recorded at frequency rank #4,285, classified as averb. apelar is at rank #16,444, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.pɨ.ˈlaɾ/.

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 20729, this pair ranks #49,710 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of apagar vs apelar

Shared letters: apr. Private to "apagar": g. Private to "apelar": el.

"apagar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "apelar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apagar ← aapgar · apaagr · apagarr · apaggar · apagra · apgaar · appagar · paagar
  • apelar ← aeplar · apealr · apelarr · apellar · apelra · aplear · appelar · paelar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "apagar" and "apelar" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "apagar" vs "apelar" - which ranks higher?
"apagar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,285 in our Portuguese list, against #16,444 for "apelar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "apagar" and "apelar".

  • Full dictionary entry for "apagar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apelar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,710 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "apagar" and "apelar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aparar vs apelar". 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 #49,710 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