Which to use
“congelado” is an adjective and “congelar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,972
- “congelado” frequency rank
- #20,542
- “congelar” frequency rank
- 37514
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | congelado | congelar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | frio como o gelo | mudar do estado líquido para o sólido pela perda de calor |
Where the eye mixes congelado and congelar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. congelado runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVCV) against congelar's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses congelado with congelar
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: congelado is /kõ.ʒɨ.ˈla.du/ while congelar is /kõ.ʒɨ.ˈlaɾ/. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
congelado is recorded at frequency rank #16,972, classified as anadj, pronounced /kõ.ʒɨ.ˈla.du/. congelar is at rank #20,542, tagged as averb, pronounced /kõ.ʒɨ.ˈlaɾ/.
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 37514, this pair ranks #29,094 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of congelado vs congelar
Shared letters: aceglno. Private to "congelado": d. Private to "congelar": r.
"congelado" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV · "congelar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "congelado" for "congelar" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "congelado" or "congelar" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "congelado" and "congelar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "congelado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "congelar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #29,094 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "congelado" and "congelar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "congelar vs consolar". 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 #29,094 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.