apovsapósWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#45,685
“apo” frequency rank
#187
“após” frequency rank
45872
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apo após
Definition atar, juntar, ligar. em seguimento

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set apo and após apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
apo
4 ch
após

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: apo is /ˈa.poː/. while após is /ɐ.ˈpɔʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45872, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apo is recorded at frequency rank #45,685, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈa.poː/.. após is at rank #187, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ɐ.ˈpɔʃ/.

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 45872, this pair ranks #19,510 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of apo vs após

Shared letters: ap. Private to "apo": o. Private to "após": .

"apo" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "após" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Frequency comparison

apo#45,685
após#187

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "apo" and "após" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "apo" is a verb and "após" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "apo" or "após"?
"após" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #187 in our Portuguese list, against #45,685 for "apo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering apo vs após

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “apo”; for an adverb, it's “após”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “apo” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list