formação vs formado, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“formação” is a noun and “formado” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#958
“formação” frequency rank: #3,013
“formado” frequency rank: 3971
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	formação	formado
Definition	ato, efeito ou modo de formar	claramente definido

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set formação and formado apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch

formação

7 ch

formado

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: formação is /fuɾ.mɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ while formado is /fuɾ.ˈma.du/. 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 3971, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

formação is recorded at frequency rank #958, classified as anoun, pronounced /fuɾ.mɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. formado is at rank #3,013, tagged as anadj, pronounced /fuɾ.ˈma.du/.

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 3971, this pair ranks #71,082 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of formação vs formado

Shared letters: afmor. Private to "formação": ãç. Private to "formado": d.

"formação" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV · "formado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

formado ← fformado · fomrado · foramdo · formaddo · formaod · formdao · formmado · forrmado

Frequency comparison

formação#958

formado#3,013

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "formação" and "formado" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "formação" is a noun and "formado" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "formação" or "formado"?

"formação" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #958 in our Portuguese list, against #3,013 for "formado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering formação vs formado

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “formação”; for an adjective, it's “formado”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “formação” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable