arãovsarrozWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#30,004
“arão” frequency rank
#2,989
“arroz” frequency rank
32993
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arão arroz
Definition ave marinha, airo, também chamado arau-comum, Uria aalge planta da família das gramíneas com algumas espécies e muitas variedades bastante cultivadas cujo fruto é comestível

Where the eye mixes arão and arroz

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

4 ch
arão
5 ch
arroz

Why the eye confuses arão with arroz

A purely visual mix-up. arão (Singular: /ɐ.'ɾaŋ/, /ɐ.'ɾa.o/, /ɐ.'ɾaw/) and arroz (/a.ˈʁo(j)s/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32993, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arão is recorded at frequency rank #30,004, classified as anoun, pronounced Singular: /ɐ.'ɾaŋ/, /ɐ.'ɾa.o/, /ɐ.'ɾaw/. arroz is at rank #2,989, tagged as anoun, pronounced /a.ˈʁo(j)s/.

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 32993, this pair ranks #34,643 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of arão vs arroz

Shared letters: aor. Private to "arão": ã. Private to "arroz": z.

"arão" · 4 letters · shape VCVV  ·  "arroz" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • arroz ← arorz · aroz · arrozz · arrzo · raroz

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "arão" and "arroz" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (Singular: /ɐ.'ɾaŋ/, /ɐ.'ɾa.o/, /ɐ.'ɾaw/ versus /a.ˈʁo(j)s/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "arão" vs "arroz" - which ranks higher?
"arroz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,989 in our Portuguese list, against #30,004 for "arão". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "arão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "arroz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #34,643 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "arão" and "arroz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arão vs atar". 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 #34,643 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