elevadorvselevarConfusable pair

Quick tell: elevador is a adjective, elevar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“elevador” is an adjective and “elevar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,148
“elevador” frequency rank
#9,482
“elevar” frequency rank
16630
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature elevador elevar
Definition que eleva pôr mais alto

Where the eye mixes elevador and elevar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
elevador
6 ch
elevar

Visual trap between elevador and elevar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: elevador is /i.lɨ.vɐ.ˈdoɾ/ while elevar is /i.lɨ.ˈvaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 16630, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

elevador is recorded at frequency rank #7,148, classified as anadj, pronounced /i.lɨ.vɐ.ˈdoɾ/. elevar is at rank #9,482, tagged as averb, pronounced /i.lɨ.ˈvaɾ/.

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 16630, this pair ranks #54,861 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of elevador vs elevar

Shared letters: aelrv. Private to "elevador": do. Private to "elevar": -.

"elevador" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVC  ·  "elevar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • elevadoreelvador · eleavdor · elevaddor · elevadorr · elevadro · elevaodr · elevdaor · elevvador
  • elevareelvar · eleavr · elevarr · elevra · elevvar · ellevar · elvear · leevar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "elevador" and "elevar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "elevador" is an adjective and "elevar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "elevador" or "elevar" show up more?
"elevador" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,148 in our Portuguese list, against #9,482 for "elevar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "elevador" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "elevar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,861 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "elevador" and "elevar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "elevar vs eleven". 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 #54,861 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