apertadovsapuradoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,000
“apertado” frequency rank
#26,628
“apurado” frequency rank
34628
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apertado apurado
Definition bem unido ou aproximado: obtido, calculado

Where the eye mixes apertado and apurado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. apertado runs 8 letters (VCVCCVCV) against apurado's 7 (VCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
apertado
7 ch
apurado

Visual trap between apertado and apurado

A purely visual mix-up. apertado (/ɐ.pɨɾ.ˈta.du/) and apurado (/ɐ.pu.ˈɾa.du/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34628, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apertado is recorded at frequency rank #8,000, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɐ.pɨɾ.ˈta.du/. apurado is at rank #26,628, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɐ.pu.ˈɾa.du/.

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 34628, this pair ranks #32,582 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of apertado vs apurado

Shared letters: adopr. Private to "apertado": et. Private to "apurado": u.

"apertado" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV  ·  "apurado" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apertado ← aeprtado · aperatdo · aperrtado · apertaddo · apertaod · apertdao · aperttado · apetrado
  • apurado ← appurado · apruado · apuardo · apuraddo · apuraod · apurdao · apurrado · auprado

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "apertado" and "apurado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.pɨɾ.ˈta.du/ versus /ɐ.pu.ˈɾa.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "apertado" or "apurado"?
"apertado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,000 in our Portuguese list, against #26,628 for "apurado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "apertado" and "apurado" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "apertado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apurado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,582 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "apertado" and "apurado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apurado vs arado". 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 #32,582 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