Which to use
“enganado” is an adjective and “enganar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,180
- “enganado” frequency rank
- #5,939
- “enganar” frequency rank
- 16119
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | enganado | enganar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | que se enganou | levar intencionalmente ao erro |
Where the eye mixes enganado and enganar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. enganado runs 8 letters (VCCVCVCV) against enganar's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses enganado with enganar
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: enganado is /ẽ.ɡɐ.ˈna.du/ while enganar is /ẽ.ɡɐ.ˈnaɾ/. 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 16119, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
enganado is recorded at frequency rank #10,180, classified as anadj, pronounced /ẽ.ɡɐ.ˈna.du/. enganar is at rank #5,939, tagged as averb, pronounced /ẽ.ɡɐ.ˈnaɾ/.
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 16119, this pair ranks #55,499 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of enganado vs enganar
Shared letters: aegn. Private to "enganado": do. Private to "enganar": r.
"enganado" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV · "enganar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "enganado" for "enganar" ever safe?
Which is more common, "enganado" or "enganar"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "enganado" and "enganar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "enganado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "enganar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #55,499 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "enganado" and "enganar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enganado vs entalado". 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 #55,499 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.