Which to use
“ouriço” and “ouvido” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,273
- “ouriço” frequency rank
- #2,249
- “ouvido” frequency rank
- 42522
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ouriço | ouvido |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | animal da família dos erinacídeos dotado de espinhos | parte interna do órgão responsável pela audição (a orelha) |
Where the eye mixes ouriço and ouvido
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ouriço and ouvido follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between ouriço and ouvido
A purely visual mix-up. ouriço (/ow.ˈɾi.su/) and ouvido (/ow.ˈvi.du/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42522, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ouriço is recorded at frequency rank #40,273, classified as anoun, pronounced /ow.ˈɾi.su/. ouvido is at rank #2,249, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ow.ˈvi.du/.
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 42522, this pair ranks #23,248 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ouriço vs ouvido
Shared letters: iou. Private to "ouriço": rç. Private to "ouvido": dv.
"ouriço" · 6 letters · shape VVCVCV · "ouvido" · 6 letters · shape VVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ouvido ← ouivdo · ouvdio · ouviddo · ouviod · ouvvido · ovuido · uovido
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ouriço" and "ouvido" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "ouriço" vs "ouvido" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ouriço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ouvido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #23,248 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ouriço" and "ouvido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "óptico vs ouriço". 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 #23,248 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.