Which to use
“olá” is an intj and “olhai” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,198
- “olá” frequency rank
- #43,563
- “olhai” frequency rank
- 44761
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | olá | olhai |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | usa-se ao encontrar alguém, como saudação | segunda pessoa do plural do imperativo do verbo olhar |
Letter map: olá vs olhai
Shared letters muted; letters that set olá and olhai apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. olá runs 3 letters (VCV) against olhai's 5 (VCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - olá and olhai
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: olá is anintj and olhaiaverb. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44761, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
olá is recorded at frequency rank #1,198, classified as anintj, pronounced /o.'la/. olhai is at rank #43,563, tagged as averb.
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 44761, this pair ranks #20,674 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of olá vs olhai
Shared letters: lo. Private to "olá": á. Private to "olhai": ahi.
"olá" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "olhai" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- olhai ← lohai · ohlai · olahi · olhhai · olhia · ollhai
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "olá" and "olhai" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "olá" or "olhai" show up more?
What to do next
You've compared "olá" and "olhai". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "olá" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "olhai" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #20,674 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "olá" and "olhai" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "olhado vs olhai". 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 #20,674 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.