aradovsarãoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: arado is a adjective, arão is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“arado” is an adjective and “arão” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,977
“arado” frequency rank
#30,004
“arão” frequency rank
69981
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arado arão
Definition diz-se do solo que foi lavrado ave marinha, airo, também chamado arau-comum, Uria aalge

Where the eye mixes arado and arão

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. arado runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against arão's 4 (VCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
arado
4 ch
arão

Why the eye confuses arado with arão

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: arado is /aˈɾa.du/ while arão is Singular: /ɐ.'ɾaŋ/, /ɐ.'ɾa.o/, /ɐ.'ɾaw/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69981, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arado is recorded at frequency rank #39,977, classified as anadj, pronounced /aˈɾa.du/. arão is at rank #30,004, tagged as anoun, pronounced Singular: /ɐ.'ɾaŋ/, /ɐ.'ɾa.o/, /ɐ.'ɾaw/.

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 69981, this pair ranks #3,771 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of arado vs arão

Shared letters: aor. Private to "arado": d. Private to "arão": ã.

"arado" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "arão" · 4 letters · shape VCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • arado ← aardo · araddo · araod · ardao · arrado · raado

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "arado" and "arão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "arado" is an adjective and "arão" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "arado" or "arão"?
"arão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,004 in our Portuguese list, against #39,977 for "arado". 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 "arado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "arão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,771 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "arado" and "arão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alado vs arado". 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 #3,771 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