contágiovscontagiosoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: contágio is a noun, contagioso is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“contágio” is a noun and “contagioso” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,272
“contágio” frequency rank
#42,850
“contagioso” frequency rank
67122
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature contágio contagioso
Definition transmissão ou propagação de doença por contato direto ou indireto que passa pelo contato

Letter map: contágio vs contagioso

Shared letters muted; letters that set contágio and contagioso apart highlighted. Shared run: 7.

8 ch
contágio
10 ch
contagioso

Grammar separator: contágio vs contagioso

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: contágio is anoun and contagiosoanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67122, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

contágio is recorded at frequency rank #24,272, classified as anoun, pronounced /kõ.ˈta.ʒju/. contagioso is at rank #42,850, tagged as anadj.

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 67122, this pair ranks #4,745 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of contágio vs contagioso

Shared letters: cginot. Private to "contágio": á. Private to "contagioso": as.

"contágio" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV  ·  "contagioso" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • contagiosoccontagioso · cnotagioso · conatgioso · conntagioso · contaggioso · contagioos · contagiosso · contagisoo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "contágio" and "contagioso" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "contágio" is a noun and "contagioso" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "contágio" vs "contagioso" - which ranks higher?
"contágio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,272 in our Portuguese list, against #42,850 for "contagioso". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "contágio" vs "contagioso" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "contágio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contagioso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,745 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "contágio" and "contagioso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contagiar vs contágio". 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 #4,745 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