avariavsaveiaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#24,865
“avaria” frequency rank
#20,208
“aveia” frequency rank
45073
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature avaria aveia
Definition dano, estrago, prejuízo planta da família dos poáceos, da espécie Avena sativa

Where the eye mixes avaria and aveia

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. avaria runs 6 letters (VCVCVV) against aveia's 5 (VCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
avaria
5 ch
aveia

Why the eye confuses avaria with aveia

A purely visual mix-up. avaria (/ɐ.vɐ.ˈɾi.ɐ/) and aveia (/a.ˈvej.ja/) 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 45073, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

avaria is recorded at frequency rank #24,865, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.vɐ.ˈɾi.ɐ/. aveia is at rank #20,208, tagged as anoun, pronounced /a.ˈvej.ja/.

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 45073, this pair ranks #20,360 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of avaria vs aveia

Shared letters: aiv. Private to "avaria": r. Private to "aveia": e.

"avaria" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV  ·  "aveia" · 5 letters · shape VCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • avaria ← aavria · avaira · avarai · avarria · avraia · avvaria · vaaria
  • aveia ← aevia · aveai · aviea · avveia · vaeia

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "avaria" for "aveia" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.vɐ.ˈɾi.ɐ/ versus /a.ˈvej.ja/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "avaria" vs "aveia" - which ranks higher?
"aveia" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,208 in our Portuguese list, against #24,865 for "avaria". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "avaria" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aveia" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,360 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "avaria" and "aveia" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "avaria vs avariado". 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 #20,360 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