odiarvsousarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,367
“odiar” frequency rank
#31,478
“ousar” frequency rank
39845
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature odiar ousar
Definition ter ódio a ter coragem para fazer alguma coisa

Where the eye mixes odiar and ousar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
odiar
5 ch
ousar

Visual trap between odiar and ousar

A purely visual mix-up. odiar (/u.ˈdjaɾ/) and ousar (/ow.ˈzaɾ/) 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 39845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

odiar is recorded at frequency rank #8,367, classified as averb, pronounced /u.ˈdjaɾ/. ousar is at rank #31,478, tagged as averb, pronounced /ow.ˈzaɾ/.

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 39845, this pair ranks #26,349 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of odiar vs ousar

Shared letters: aor. Private to "odiar": di. Private to "ousar": su.

"odiar" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC  ·  "ousar" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • odiardoiar · odair · oddiar · odiarr · odira · oidar
  • ousarosuar · ouasr · ousarr · ousra · oussar · uosar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "odiar" for "ousar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/u.ˈdjaɾ/ versus /ow.ˈzaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "odiar" vs "ousar" - which ranks higher?
"odiar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,367 in our Portuguese list, against #31,478 for "ousar". 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 "odiar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ousar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #26,349 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "odiar" and "ousar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ofuscar vs ousar". 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 #26,349 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