apanharvsaranhaTell them apart

Quick tell: apanhar is a verb, aranha is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“apanhar” is a verb and “aranha” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,911
“apanhar” frequency rank
#4,446
“aranha” frequency rank
10357
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apanhar aranha
Definition transitivo: designação dos animais do grupo dos aracnídeos que confeccionam teias, casulos e ninhos

Where the eye mixes apanhar and aranha

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. apanhar runs 7 letters (VCVCCVC) against aranha's 6 (VCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
apanhar
6 ch
aranha

Look-alike desk: apanhar vs aranha

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: apanhar is /ɐ.pɐ.ˈɲaɾ/ while aranha is /a.ˈɾã.ɲə/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apanhar is recorded at frequency rank #5,911, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.pɐ.ˈɲaɾ/. aranha is at rank #4,446, tagged as anoun, pronounced /a.ˈɾã.ɲə/.

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 10357, this pair ranks #62,777 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of apanhar vs aranha

Shared letters: ahnr. Private to "apanhar": p. Private to "aranha": -.

"apanhar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC  ·  "aranha" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apanharaapnhar · apahnar · apanahr · apanharr · apanhhar · apanhra · apannhar · apnahar
  • aranhaaarnha · arahna · aranah · aranhha · arannha · arnaha · arranha · raanha

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "apanhar" and "aranha" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "apanhar" is a verb and "aranha" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "apanhar" vs "aranha" - which ranks higher?
"aranha" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,446 in our Portuguese list, against #5,911 for "apanhar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "apanhar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aranha" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #62,777 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "apanhar" and "aranha" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apanhar vs aparar". 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 #62,777 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