apelarvsapenasWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: apelar is a verb, apenas is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“apelar” is a verb and “apenas” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,444
“apelar” frequency rank
#104
“apenas” frequency rank
16548
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apelar apenas
Definition chamar em socorro somente

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set apelar and apenas apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
apelar
6 ch
apenas

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: apelar is /ɐ.pɨ.ˈlaɾ/ while apenas is /ɐ.ˈpe.nɐʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16548, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apelar is recorded at frequency rank #16,444, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.pɨ.ˈlaɾ/. apenas is at rank #104, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ɐ.ˈpe.nɐʃ/.

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 16548, this pair ranks #54,956 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of apelar vs apenas

Shared letters: aep. Private to "apelar": lr. Private to "apenas": ns.

"apelar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "apenas" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apelaraeplar · apealr · apelarr · apellar · apelra · aplear · appelar · paelar
  • apenasaepnas · apeans · apenass · apennas · apensa · apneas · appenas · paenas

Frequency comparison

apelar#16,444
apenas#104

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "apelar" and "apenas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "apelar" is a verb and "apenas" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "apelar" or "apenas"?
"apenas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #104 in our Portuguese list, against #16,444 for "apelar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering apelar vs apenas

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “apelar”; for an adverb, it's “apenas”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “apelar” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list