Which to use
“explosão” is a noun and “explosivo” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,008
- “explosão” frequency rank
- #15,575
- “explosivo” frequency rank
- 18583
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | explosão | explosivo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o ato ou efeito de explodir; uma expansão violenta com barulho, como por exemplo de pólvora | que produz explosão |
Where the eye mixes explosão and explosivo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: explosão vs explosivo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: explosão is /ɐjʃ.plu.ˈzɐ̃w̃/ while explosivo is /ɐjʃ.plu.ˈzi.vu/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
explosão is recorded at frequency rank #3,008, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɐjʃ.plu.ˈzɐ̃w̃/. explosivo is at rank #15,575, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɐjʃ.plu.ˈzi.vu/.
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 18583, this pair ranks #52,380 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of explosão vs explosivo
Shared letters: elopsx. Private to "explosão": ã. Private to "explosivo": iv.
"explosão" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVV · "explosivo" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- explosivo ← epxlosivo · exlposivo · expllosivo · exploisvo · explosiov · explosivvo · explossivo · explosvio
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "explosão" for "explosivo" ever safe?
Which is more common, "explosão" or "explosivo"?
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 "explosão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "explosivo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #52,380 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "explosão" and "explosivo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exclusivo vs explosivo". 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 #52,380 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.