aspasvsAssTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,062
“aspas” frequency rank
#15,020
“Ass” frequency rank
34082
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aspas Ass
Definition o mesmo que asa (caixilhos) ás

Where the eye mixes aspas and Ass

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
aspas
3 ch
Ass

Visual trap between aspas and Ass

A purely visual mix-up. aspas (/ˈaʃ.pɐʃ/) and Ass (/as/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34082, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aspas is recorded at frequency rank #19,062, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈaʃ.pɐʃ/. Ass is at rank #15,020, tagged as anoun, pronounced /as/ 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 34082, this pair ranks #33,281 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aspas vs Ass

Shared letters: as. Private to "aspas": p. Private to "Ass": -.

"aspas" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "Ass" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aspasapsas · asaps · aspass · asppas · aspsa · asspas · sapas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aspas" for "Ass" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈaʃ.pɐʃ/ versus /as/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aspas" or "Ass"?
"Ass" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,020 in our Portuguese list, against #19,062 for "aspas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aspas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ass" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #33,281 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aspas" and "Ass" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs Ass". 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 #33,281 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