olá vs os, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“olá” is an intj and “os” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,198
“olá” frequency rank: #19
“os” frequency rank: 1217
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	olá	os
Definition	usa-se ao encontrar alguém, como saudação	usado para apontar um nome definido, único

Where the eye mixes olá and os

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

olá

2 ch

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: olá is /o.'la/ while os is /uʃ/, /us/ (menos frequente); enfático: /oʃ/, /os/ (menos frequente). 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 (intj vs article), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1217, 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/. os is at rank #19, tagged as anarticle, pronounced /uʃ/, /us/ (menos frequente); enfático: /oʃ/, /os/ (menos frequente).

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 1217, this pair ranks #74,375 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of olá vs os

Shared letters: o. Private to "olá": lá. Private to "os": s.

"olá" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "os" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "olá" and "os" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "olá" is an intj and "os" an article, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "olá" or "os"?

"os" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19 in our Portuguese list, against #1,198 for "olá". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "olá" and "os". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "olá" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "os" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #74,375 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"olá" and "os" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "olá vs oni". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.