Which to use
“arranhão” is a noun and “arranhar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,832
- “arranhão” frequency rank
- #34,565
- “arranhar” frequency rank
- 76397
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arranhão | arranhar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pequena escoriação ou ferimento superficial | ferir levemente (a pele) com as unhas, objeto áspero ou pontiagudo |
Where the eye mixes arranhão and arranhar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. arranhão (VCCVCCVV) and arranhar (VCCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses arranhão with arranhar
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: arranhão is /ɐ.Rɐ.ˈɲɐ̃w̃/ while arranhar is /ɐ.Rɐ.ˈɲaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76397, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
arranhão is recorded at frequency rank #41,832, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.Rɐ.ˈɲɐ̃w̃/. arranhar is at rank #34,565, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.Rɐ.ˈɲaɾ/.
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 76397, this pair ranks #2,101 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of arranhão vs arranhar
Shared letters: ahnr. Private to "arranhão": oã. Private to "arranhar": -.
"arranhão" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV · "arranhar" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- arranhar ← aranhar · ararnhar · arrahnar · arranahr · arranharr · arranhhar · arranhra · arrannhar
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "arranhão" for "arranhar" ever safe?
Which is more common, "arranhão" or "arranhar"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "arranhão" and "arranhar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "arranhão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "arranhar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,101 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arranhão" and "arranhar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abrandar vs arranhar". 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 #2,101 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.