orelhavsorelhasWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,058
“orelha” frequency rank
#10,223
“orelhas” frequency rank
17281
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature orelha orelhas
Definition parte exterior do ouvido; por extensão ouvido plural de orelha

Where the eye mixes orelha and orelhas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. orelha runs 6 letters (VCVCCV) against orelhas's 7 (VCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
orelha
7 ch
orelhas

Look-alike desk: orelha vs orelhas

A purely visual mix-up. orelha (/oˈɾe.ʎə/) and orelhas (/oˈɾe.ʎaʃ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “orelha” sits inside “orelhas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17281, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

orelha is recorded at frequency rank #7,058, classified as anoun, pronounced /oˈɾe.ʎə/. orelhas is at rank #10,223, tagged as anoun, pronounced /oˈɾe.ʎaʃ/.

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 17281, this pair ranks #54,007 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of orelha vs orelhas

Shared letters: aehlor. Private to "orelha": -. Private to "orelhas": s.

"orelha" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "orelhas" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • orelha ← oerlha · orehla · orelah · orelhha · orellha · orleha · orrelha · roelha
  • orelhas ← oerlhas · orehlas · orelahs · orelhass · orelhhas · orelhsa · orellhas · orlehas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "orelha" and "orelhas" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/oˈɾe.ʎə/ versus /oˈɾe.ʎaʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "orelha" or "orelhas"?
"orelha" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,058 in our Portuguese list, against #10,223 for "orelhas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "orelha" and "orelhas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "orelha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "orelhas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,007 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "orelha" and "orelhas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "orelhas vs ovelha". 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 #54,007 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