aplacarvsaplicarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#43,760
“aplacar” frequency rank
#5,378
“aplicar” frequency rank
49138
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aplacar aplicar
Definition reduzir a força ou a intensidade de; acalmar, atenuar, minorar sobrepor, pôr sobre

Where the eye mixes aplacar and aplicar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. aplacar and aplicar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
aplacar
7 ch
aplicar

Visual trap between aplacar and aplicar

A purely visual mix-up. aplacar (/ɐ.plɐ.ˈkaɾ/) and aplicar (/ɐ.pli.ˈkaɾ/) 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 - a in “aplacar” becomes i in “aplicar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49138, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aplacar is recorded at frequency rank #43,760, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.plɐ.ˈkaɾ/. aplicar is at rank #5,378, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.pli.ˈkaɾ/.

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 49138, this pair ranks #15,941 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aplacar vs aplicar

Shared letters: aclpr. Private to "aplacar": -. Private to "aplicar": i.

"aplacar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "aplicar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aplacar ← alpacar · apalcar · aplaacr · aplacarr · aplaccar · aplacra · aplcaar · apllacar
  • aplicar ← alpicar · apilcar · aplciar · apliacr · aplicarr · apliccar · aplicra · apllicar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aplacar" for "aplicar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.plɐ.ˈkaɾ/ versus /ɐ.pli.ˈkaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aplacar" or "aplicar"?
"aplicar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,378 in our Portuguese list, against #43,760 for "aplacar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "aplacar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aplicar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #15,941 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aplacar" and "aplicar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alçar vs aplacar". 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 #15,941 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