Which to use
“enganar” is a verb and “engano” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,939
- “enganar” frequency rank
- #5,845
- “engano” frequency rank
- 11784
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | enganar | engano |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | levar intencionalmente ao erro | erro |
Where the eye mixes enganar and engano
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. enganar runs 7 letters (VCCVCVC) against engano's 6 (VCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: enganar vs engano
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: enganar is /ẽ.ɡɐ.ˈnaɾ/ while engano is /ẽ.ˈɡɐ.nu/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11784, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
enganar is recorded at frequency rank #5,939, classified as averb, pronounced /ẽ.ɡɐ.ˈnaɾ/. engano is at rank #5,845, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ẽ.ˈɡɐ.nu/.
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 11784, this pair ranks #60,992 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of enganar vs engano
Shared letters: aegn. Private to "enganar": r. Private to "engano": o.
"enganar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC · "engano" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "enganar" and "engano" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "enganar" vs "engano" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "enganar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "engano" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #60,992 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "enganar" and "engano" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enganar vs engatar". 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 #60,992 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.