isolavsisoladoConfusable pair

Quick tell: isola is a noun, isolado is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#25,021
“isola” frequency rank
#7,428
“isolado” frequency rank
32449
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature isola isolado
Definition ilha que se isolou

Where the eye mixes isola and isolado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. isola runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against isolado's 7 (VCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
isola
7 ch
isolado

Why the eye confuses isola with isolado

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: isola is /ˈi.zo.la/. while isolado is /i.zu.ˈla.du/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “isola” sits inside “isolado”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32449, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

isola is recorded at frequency rank #25,021, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈi.zo.la/.. isolado is at rank #7,428, tagged as anadj, pronounced /i.zu.ˈla.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 32449, this pair ranks #35,364 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of isola vs isolado

Shared letters: ailos. Private to "isola": -. Private to "isolado": d.

"isola" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "isolado" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • isola ← iosla · isloa · isoal · isolla · issola · siola
  • isolado ← ioslado · isloado · isoaldo · isoladdo · isolaod · isoldao · isollado · issolado

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "isola" and "isolado" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "isola" is a noun and "isolado" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "isola" or "isolado" show up more?
"isolado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,428 in our Portuguese list, against #25,021 for "isola". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "isola" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "isolado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #35,364 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "isola" and "isolado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Islam vs isola". 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 #35,364 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