apevsapeloConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#28,095
“ape” frequency rank
#6,263
“apelo” frequency rank
34358
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ape apelo
Definition comida para cavalos pedido de ajuda

Where the eye mixes ape and apelo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
ape
5 ch
apelo

Why the eye confuses ape with apelo

A purely visual mix-up. ape (/ˈɑ.pe/) and apelo (/ɐ.ˈpe.lu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ape” sits inside “apelo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34358, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ape is recorded at frequency rank #28,095, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɑ.pe/. apelo is at rank #6,263, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈpe.lu/.

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 34358, this pair ranks #32,938 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ape vs apelo

Shared letters: aep. Private to "ape": -. Private to "apelo": lo.

"ape" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "apelo" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apeloaeplo · apello · apeol · apleo · appelo · paelo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ape" and "apelo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɑ.pe/ versus /ɐ.ˈpe.lu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ape" vs "apelo" - which ranks higher?
"apelo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,263 in our Portuguese list, against #28,095 for "ape". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apelo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,938 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ape" and "apelo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs ape". 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 #32,938 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