aquáriovsarmárioTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,308
“aquário” frequency rank
#6,612
“armário” frequency rank
16920
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aquário armário
Definition recipiente onde se criam animais aquáticos móvel, normalmente de madeira ou metal, e que normalmente apresenta portas e prateleiras

Where the eye mixes aquário and armário

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. aquário (VCVVCVV) and armário (VCCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
aquário
7 ch
armário

Look-alike desk: aquário vs armário

A purely visual mix-up. aquário (/a.ˈkwa.ɾju/) and armário (/ɐɾ.ˈma.ɾju/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16920, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aquário is recorded at frequency rank #10,308, classified as anoun, pronounced /a.ˈkwa.ɾju/. armário is at rank #6,612, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐɾ.ˈma.ɾju/.

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 16920, this pair ranks #54,485 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aquário vs armário

Shared letters: aiorá. Private to "aquário": qu. Private to "armário": m.

"aquário" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVV  ·  "armário" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aquário" for "armário" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/a.ˈkwa.ɾju/ versus /ɐɾ.ˈma.ɾju/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "aquário" vs "armário" - which ranks higher?
"armário" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,612 in our Portuguese list, against #10,308 for "aquário". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "aquário" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "armário" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,485 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aquário" and "armário" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aquário vs Aquarius". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #54,485 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