Which to use
“opção” and “órgão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,501
- “opção” frequency rank
- #2,659
- “órgão” frequency rank
- 4160
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | opção | órgão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ato de optar | instrumento musical com teclado cujo som é formado pelo vento que passa por tubos |
Where the eye mixes opção and órgão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. opção and órgão follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses opção with órgão
A purely visual mix-up. opção (/ɔ.ˈpsɐ̃w̃/) and órgão (/ˈɔrgɜ̃ũ/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
opção is recorded at frequency rank #1,501, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɔ.ˈpsɐ̃w̃/. órgão is at rank #2,659, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɔrgɜ̃ũ/.
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 4160, this pair ranks #70,839 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of opção vs órgão
Shared letters: oã. Private to "opção": pç. Private to "órgão": gró.
"opção" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV · "órgão" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "opção" and "órgão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "opção" vs "órgão" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "opção" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "órgão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #70,839 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "opção" and "órgão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ócio vs opção". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #70,839 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.