complicação vs comunicação, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#21,968
“complicação” frequency rank: #738
“comunicação” frequency rank: 22706
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	complicação	comunicação
Definition	ato ou efeito de complicar	ato ou efeito de comunicar(-se)

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set complicação and comunicação apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

11 ch

complicação

11 ch

comunicação

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. complicação (/kõ.pli.kɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and comunicação (/ku.mu.ni.kɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) 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 22706, 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/. comunicação is at rank #738, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ku.mu.ni.kɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.

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 22706, this pair ranks #47,281 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of complicação vs comunicação

Shared letters: acimoãç. Private to "complicação": lp. Private to "comunicação": nu.

"complicação" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCVCVV · "comunicação" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCVV

Frequency comparison

complicação#21,968

comunicação#738

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "complicação" and "comunicação" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/kõ.pli.kɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /ku.mu.ni.kɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "complicação" or "comunicação"?

"comunicação" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #738 in our Portuguese list, against #21,968 for "complicação". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering complicação vs comunicação

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 “complicação” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable