Which to use
“aquilo” is a pronoun and “asilo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #820
- “aquilo” frequency rank
- #9,000
- “asilo” frequency rank
- 9820
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aquilo | asilo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | aquela coisa ou aquele assunto | local onde escondiam-se criminosos |
Where the eye mixes aquilo and asilo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses aquilo with asilo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aquilo is /ɐ.ˈki.lu/ while asilo is /a.ˈzi.lu/. 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 (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9820, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aquilo is recorded at frequency rank #820, classified as apron, pronounced /ɐ.ˈki.lu/. asilo is at rank #9,000, tagged as anoun, pronounced /a.ˈzi.lu/.
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 9820, this pair ranks #63,481 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of aquilo vs asilo
Shared letters: ailo. Private to "aquilo": qu. Private to "asilo": s.
"aquilo" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCV · "asilo" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "aquilo" for "asilo" ever safe?
Frequency check: "aquilo" vs "asilo" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "aquilo" and "asilo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "aquilo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "asilo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #63,481 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aquilo" and "asilo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aipo vs asilo". 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 #63,481 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.