Which to use
“arch” is a verb and “arm” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,879
- “arch” frequency rank
- #27,355
- “arm” frequency rank
- 63234
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arch | arm |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | arquear, tomar a forma de um arco | pobre |
Letter map: arch vs arm
Shared letters muted; letters that set arch and arm apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for arch / arm
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: arch is averb and armanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63234, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
arch is recorded at frequency rank #35,879, classified as averb. arm is at rank #27,355, tagged as anadj, pronounced /aʁm/ ouvir^(fonte ?).
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 63234, this pair ranks #6,284 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of arch vs arm
Shared letters: ar. Private to "arch": ch. Private to "arm": m.
"arch" · 4 letters · shape VCCC · "arm" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- arch ← acrh · arcch · archh · arhc · arrch · rach
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "arch" for "arm" ever safe?
Frequency check: "arch" vs "arm" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "arch" and "arm".
- Full dictionary entry for "arch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "arm" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #6,284 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arch" and "arm" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs arch". 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 #6,284 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.