Which to use
“obrigado” is an adjective and “obrigar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #621
- “obrigado” frequency rank
- #8,657
- “obrigar” frequency rank
- 9278
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | obrigado | obrigar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | forçado, coagido por lei, norma, necessidade ou uso; obrigatório, inevitável | fazer com que alguém faça algo à força; forçar |
Where the eye mixes obrigado and obrigar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. obrigado runs 8 letters (VCCVCVCV) against obrigar's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between obrigado and obrigar
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: obrigado is /ɔ.bɾi.ˈɡa.du/ while obrigar is /ɔ.bɾi.ˈɡaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9278, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
obrigado is recorded at frequency rank #621, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɔ.bɾi.ˈɡa.du/. obrigar is at rank #8,657, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɔ.bɾi.ˈɡaɾ/.
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 9278, this pair ranks #64,206 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of obrigado vs obrigar
Shared letters: abgior. Private to "obrigado": d. Private to "obrigar": -.
"obrigado" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV · "obrigar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "obrigado" and "obrigar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "obrigado" vs "obrigar" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "obrigado" and "obrigar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "obrigado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "obrigar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #64,206 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "obrigado" and "obrigar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "obrigada vs obrigar". 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 #64,206 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.