ape vs are, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#28,095
“ape” frequency rank: #4,038
“are” frequency rank: 32133
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ape	are
Definition	comida para cavalos	unidade de medida de área equivalente a 100 metros quadrados

Where the eye mixes ape and are

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch

ape

3 ch

are

Visual trap between ape and are

A purely visual mix-up. ape (/ˈɑ.pe/) and are (/ˈa.ɾe/) 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 a single letter - p in “ape” becomes r in “are”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32133, 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/. are is at rank #4,038, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈa.ɾe/.

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 32133, this pair ranks #35,762 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ape vs are

Shared letters: ae. Private to "ape": p. Private to "are": r.

"ape" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "are" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ape" for "are" ever safe?

No. They are said differently (/ˈɑ.pe/ versus /ˈa.ɾe/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Frequency check: "ape" vs "are" - which ranks higher?

"are" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,038 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.

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 "ape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "are" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #35,762 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ape" and "are" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs ape". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #35,762 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.