ápicevsapóliceWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#14,267
“ápice” frequency rank
#25,547
“apólice” frequency rank
39814
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ápice apólice
Definition topo, cume título numa empresa

Where the eye mixes ápice and apólice

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ápice runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against apólice's 7 (VCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
ápice
7 ch
apólice

Visual trap between ápice and apólice

A purely visual mix-up. ápice (/ˈa.pi.sɨ/) and apólice (/ɐ.ˈpɔ.li.sɨ/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39814, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ápice is recorded at frequency rank #14,267, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈa.pi.sɨ/. apólice is at rank #25,547, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈpɔ.li.sɨ/.

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 39814, this pair ranks #26,383 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ápice vs apólice

Shared letters: ceip. Private to "ápice": á. Private to "apólice": aló.

"ápice" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "apólice" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ápice" for "apólice" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈa.pi.sɨ/ versus /ɐ.ˈpɔ.li.sɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ápice" or "apólice"?
"ápice" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,267 in our Portuguese list, against #25,547 for "apólice". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ápice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apólice" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #26,383 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ápice" and "apólice" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alce vs ápice". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #26,383 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