obavsomoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: oba is a num, omo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“oba” is a num and “omo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,674
“oba” frequency rank
#40,711
“omo” frequency rank
61385
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature oba omo
Definition ambos, um e outro, uma e outra ohm, unidade de medida de resistência elétrica no Sistema Internacional de Unidades (SI)

Where the eye mixes oba and omo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. oba and omo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
oba
3 ch
omo

Visual trap between oba and omo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: oba is /ˈʔɔba/ ouvir^(fonte ?) while omo is /ˈo.mo/, /ˈɔ.mɔ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (num vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

oba is recorded at frequency rank #20,674, classified as anum, pronounced /ˈʔɔba/ ouvir^(fonte ?). omo is at rank #40,711, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈo.mo/, /ˈɔ.mɔ/.

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 61385, this pair ranks #7,162 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of oba vs omo

Shared letters: o. Private to "oba": ab. Private to "omo": m.

"oba" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "omo" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "oba" for "omo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "oba" is a num and "omo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "oba" or "omo" show up more?
"oba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,674 in our Portuguese list, against #40,711 for "omo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "oba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "omo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,162 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "oba" and "omo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "omo vs oni". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #7,162 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