órfãovsórgãoWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#21,345
“órfão” frequency rank
#2,659
“órgão” frequency rank
24004
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature órfão órgão
Definition que perdeu o pai e a mãe ou um deles instrumento musical com teclado cujo som é formado pelo vento que passa por tubos

Letter map: órfão vs órgão

Shared letters muted; letters that set órfão and órgão apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. órfão and órgão follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
órfão
5 ch
órgão

Grammar separator: órfão vs órgão

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: órfão is anadjective and órgãoanoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - f in “órfão” becomes g in “órgão”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24004, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

órfão is recorded at frequency rank #21,345, classified as anadj. 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 24004, this pair ranks #45,709 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of órfão vs órgão

Shared letters: orãó. Private to "órfão": f. Private to "órgão": g.

"órfão" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV  ·  "órgão" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "órfão" for "órgão" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "órfão" is an adjective and "órgão" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "órfão" or "órgão" show up more?
"órgão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,659 in our Portuguese list, against #21,345 for "órfão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "órfão" vs "órgão" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "órfão" 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 #45,709 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "órfão" and "órgão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "olfato vs órfão". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #45,709 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