Which to use
“exame” is a noun and “exato” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,074
- “exame” frequency rank
- #4,642
- “exato” frequency rank
- 7716
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | exame | exato |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o ato de examinar | o que não tem erro ou qualquer falta |
Where the eye mixes exame and exato
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. exame and exato follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses exame with exato
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: exame is /i.ˈzɐ.mɨ/ while exato is /i.ˈza.tu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7716, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
exame is recorded at frequency rank #3,074, classified as anoun, pronounced /i.ˈzɐ.mɨ/. exato is at rank #4,642, tagged as anadj, pronounced /i.ˈza.tu/.
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 7716, this pair ranks #66,357 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of exame vs exato
Shared letters: aex. Private to "exame": m. Private to "exato": ot.
"exame" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "exato" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "exame" and "exato" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "exame" vs "exato" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "exame" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exato" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #66,357 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "exame" and "exato" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exato vs exit". 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 #66,357 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.