órfãvsorlaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: órfã is a adjective, orla is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“órfã” is an adjective and “orla” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,180
“órfã” frequency rank
#11,924
“orla” frequency rank
37104
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature órfã orla
Definition feminino plural de órfão margem

Where the eye mixes órfã and orla

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

4 ch
órfã
4 ch
orla

Look-alike desk: órfã vs orla

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: órfã is /ˈɔɾ.fɐ̃/ while orla is /ˈɔɾ.lɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37104, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

órfã is recorded at frequency rank #25,180, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈɔɾ.fɐ̃/. orla is at rank #11,924, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɔɾ.lɐ/.

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 37104, this pair ranks #29,580 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of órfã vs orla

Shared letters: r. Private to "órfã": fãó. Private to "orla": alo.

"órfã" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "orla" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • orlaolra · orlla · orrla

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "órfã" for "orla" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "órfã" is an adjective and "orla" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "órfã" or "orla"?
"orla" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,924 in our Portuguese list, against #25,180 for "órfã". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "órfã" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "orla" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #29,580 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "órfã" and "orla" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oda vs órfã". 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 #29,580 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