funcionalvsfuncionarTell them apart

Quick tell: funcional is a adjective, funcionar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“funcional” is an adjective and “funcionar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,340
“funcional” frequency rank
#3,205
“funcionar” frequency rank
11545
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature funcional funcionar
Definition relativo a função realizar uma determinada função ou trabalho que se espera ser realizado

Letter map: funcional vs funcionar

Shared letters muted; letters that set funcional and funcionar apart highlighted. Shared run: 8.

9 ch
funcional
9 ch
funcionar

Role in the sentence - funcional and funcionar

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: funcional is anadjective and funcionaraverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - l in “funcional” becomes r in “funcionar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11545, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

funcional is recorded at frequency rank #8,340, classified as anadj. funcionar is at rank #3,205, tagged as averb, pronounced /fũ.sju.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 11545, this pair ranks #61,271 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of funcional vs funcionar

Shared letters: acfinou. Private to "funcional": l. Private to "funcionar": r.

"funcional" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC  ·  "funcionar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • funcionalffuncional · fnucional · fucnional · funccional · funcinoal · funcioanl · funcionall · funcionla
  • funcionarffuncionar · fnucionar · fucnionar · funccionar · funcinoar · funcioanr · funcionarr · funcionnar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "funcional" for "funcionar" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "funcional" is an adjective and "funcionar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "funcional" or "funcionar"?
"funcionar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,205 in our Portuguese list, against #8,340 for "funcional". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "funcional" and "funcionar".

  • Full dictionary entry for "funcional" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "funcionar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,271 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "funcional" and "funcionar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "funcionar vs funcionário". 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 #61,271 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list