gambavsgramaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“gamba” and “grama” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#43,444
“gamba” frequency rank
#6,662
“grama” frequency rank
50106
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gamba grama
Definition antiga viola parecida com o violoncelo planta rasteira da família das gramíneas

Where the eye mixes gamba and grama

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gamba (CVCCV) and grama (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
gamba
5 ch
grama

Why the eye confuses gamba with grama

A purely visual mix-up. gamba (/ˈɡɐ̃.bɐ/) and grama (/ˈgɾã.ma/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50106, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gamba is recorded at frequency rank #43,444, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡɐ̃.bɐ/. grama is at rank #6,662, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈgɾã.ma/.

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 50106, this pair ranks #14,867 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gamba vs grama

Shared letters: agm. Private to "gamba": b. Private to "grama": r.

"gamba" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "grama" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gamba ← agmba · gabma · gamab · gambba · gammba · ggamba · gmaba
  • grama ← garma · ggrama · graam · gramma · grmaa · grrama · rgama

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gamba" for "grama" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɡɐ̃.bɐ/ versus /ˈgɾã.ma/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "gamba" or "grama" show up more?
"grama" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,662 in our Portuguese list, against #43,444 for "gamba". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gamba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grama" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,867 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gamba" and "grama" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gamba vs garça". 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 #14,867 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