ocultaçãovsocupaçãoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#34,838
“ocultação” frequency rank
#3,031
“ocupação” frequency rank
37869
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ocultação ocupação
Definition ação ou efeito de ocultar; esconder algo propositalmente o trabalho ou negócio principal ou usual de uma pessoa, especialmente aquele que provê seus meios de sustentação

Where the eye mixes ocultação and ocupação

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. ocultação runs 9 letters (VCVCCVCVV) against ocupação's 8 (VCVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
ocultação
8 ch
ocupação

Why the eye confuses ocultação with ocupação

A purely visual mix-up. ocultação (/o.kuw.taˈsɐ̃w/) and ocupação (/ɔ.ku.pɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37869, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ocultação is recorded at frequency rank #34,838, classified as anoun, pronounced /o.kuw.taˈsɐ̃w/. ocupação is at rank #3,031, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɔ.ku.pɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.

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 37869, this pair ranks #28,689 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ocultação vs ocupação

Shared letters: acouãç. Private to "ocultação": lt. Private to "ocupação": p.

"ocultação" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCVV  ·  "ocupação" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ocultação" for "ocupação" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/o.kuw.taˈsɐ̃w/ versus /ɔ.ku.pɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ocultação" or "ocupação"?
"ocupação" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,031 in our Portuguese list, against #34,838 for "ocultação". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "ocultação" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ocupação" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,689 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ocultação" and "ocupação" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ocultação vs ovulação". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #28,689 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