arranhão vs arrastão, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#41,832
“arranhão” frequency rank: #23,567
“arrastão” frequency rank: 65399
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	arranhão	arrastão
Definition	pequena escoriação ou ferimento superficial	assalto perpetrado por um ou vários grupos de indivíduos em sítio público

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set arranhão and arrastão apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch

arranhão

8 ch

arrastão

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. arranhão (/ɐ.Rɐ.ˈɲɐ̃w̃/) and arrastão (/ɐ.Rɐʃ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65399, 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/. arrastão is at rank #23,567, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.Rɐʃ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/.

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 65399, this pair ranks #5,395 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of arranhão vs arrastão

Shared letters: aorã. Private to "arranhão": hn. Private to "arrastão": st.

"arranhão" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV · "arrastão" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVV

Frequency comparison

arranhão#41,832

arrastão#23,567

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "arranhão" and "arrastão" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ɐ.Rɐ.ˈɲɐ̃w̃/ versus /ɐ.Rɐʃ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "arranhão" or "arrastão"?

"arrastão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,567 in our Portuguese list, against #41,832 for "arranhão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering arranhão vs arrastão

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “arranhão” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable