Which to use
“complicação” is a noun and “complicado” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,968
- “complicação” frequency rank
- #3,130
- “complicado” frequency rank
- 25098
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | complicação | complicado |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ato ou efeito de complicar | em que há complicação |
Where the eye mixes complicação and complicado
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between complicação and complicado
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: complicação is /kõ.pli.kɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ while complicado is /kõ.pli.ˈka.du/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25098, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
complicação is recorded at frequency rank #21,968, classified as anoun, pronounced /kõ.pli.kɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. complicado is at rank #3,130, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kõ.pli.ˈka.du/.
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 25098, this pair ranks #44,295 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of complicação vs complicado
Shared letters: acilmop. Private to "complicação": ãç. Private to "complicado": d.
"complicação" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCVV · "complicado" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- complicado ← ccomplicado · cmoplicado · comlpicado · commplicado · compilcado · complciado · compliacdo · complicaddo
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "complicação" for "complicado" ever safe?
Frequency check: "complicação" vs "complicado" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "complicação" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "complicado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #44,295 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "complicação" and "complicado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "compilação vs complicação". 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 #44,295 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.