Which to use
“olá” is an intj and “olhar” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,198
- “olá” frequency rank
- #703
- “olhar” frequency rank
- 1901
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | olá | olhar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | usa-se ao encontrar alguém, como saudação | ação de olhar |
Where the eye mixes olá and olhar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. olá runs 3 letters (VCV) against olhar's 5 (VCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses olá with olhar
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: olá is /o.'la/ while olhar is /ɔ.ˈʎaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1901, 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/. olhar is at rank #703, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɔ.ˈʎaɾ/.
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 1901, this pair ranks #73,620 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of olá vs olhar
Shared letters: lo. Private to "olá": á. Private to "olhar": ahr.
"olá" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "olhar" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- olhar ← lohar · ohlar · olahr · olharr · olhhar · olhra · ollhar
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "olá" for "olhar" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "olá" or "olhar" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "olá" and "olhar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "olá" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "olhar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #73,620 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "olá" and "olhar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "olá vs oni". 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 #73,620 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.