gruavsgulaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#47,917
“grua” frequency rank
#35,619
“gula” frequency rank
83536
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grua gula
Definition aparelho usado para levantar pesos desejo excessivo de comer

Where the eye mixes grua and gula

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. grua (CCVV) and gula (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
grua
4 ch
gula

Why the eye confuses grua with gula

A purely visual mix-up. grua (/ˈɡɾu.ɐ/) and gula (/ˈɡu.lɐ/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grua is recorded at frequency rank #47,917, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡɾu.ɐ/. gula is at rank #35,619, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡu.lɐ/.

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 83536, this pair ranks #897 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of grua vs gula

Shared letters: agu. Private to "grua": r. Private to "gula": l.

"grua" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "gula" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grua ← ggrua · grrua · gura · rgua
  • gula ← ggula · glua · gual · gulla · ugla

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "grua" and "gula" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɡɾu.ɐ/ versus /ˈɡu.lɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "grua" or "gula"?
"gula" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,619 in our Portuguese list, against #47,917 for "grua". 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 "grua" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gula" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #897 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grua" and "gula" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grip vs grua". 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 #897 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