órgãovsorlaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,659
“órgão” frequency rank
#11,924
“orla” frequency rank
14583
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature órgão orla
Definition instrumento musical com teclado cujo som é formado pelo vento que passa por tubos margem

Where the eye mixes órgão and orla

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. órgão runs 5 letters (VCCVV) against orla's 4 (VCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
órgão
4 ch
orla

Look-alike desk: órgão vs orla

A purely visual mix-up. órgão (/ˈɔrgɜ̃ũ/) and orla (/ˈɔɾ.lɐ/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

órgão is recorded at frequency rank #2,659, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɔrgɜ̃ũ/. 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 14583, this pair ranks #57,461 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of órgão vs orla

Shared letters: or. Private to "órgão": gãó. Private to "orla": al.

"órgão" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV  ·  "orla" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • orla ← olra · orlla · orrla

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "órgão" and "orla" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɔrgɜ̃ũ/ versus /ˈɔɾ.lɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "órgão" vs "orla" - which ranks higher?
"órgão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,659 in our Portuguese list, against #11,924 for "orla". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "órgão" 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 #57,461 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "órgão" and "orla" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oda vs orla". 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 #57,461 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