profissãovsprofusãoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,638
“profissão” frequency rank
#35,739
“profusão” frequency rank
39377
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature profissão profusão
Definition no que se trabalha, ofício, meio de subsistência abundância

Where the eye mixes profissão and profusão

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. profissão runs 9 letters (CCVCVCCVV) against profusão's 8 (CCVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
profissão
8 ch
profusão

Look-alike desk: profissão vs profusão

A purely visual mix-up. profissão (/pɾu.fi.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and profusão (/pɾu.fu.ˈzɐ̃w̃/) 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 39377, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

profissão is recorded at frequency rank #3,638, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɾu.fi.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. profusão is at rank #35,739, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɾu.fu.ˈzɐ̃w̃/.

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 39377, this pair ranks #26,897 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of profissão vs profusão

Shared letters: foprsã. Private to "profissão": i. Private to "profusão": u.

"profissão" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVV  ·  "profusão" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "profissão" and "profusão" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/pɾu.fi.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /pɾu.fu.ˈzɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "profissão" or "profusão"?
"profissão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,638 in our Portuguese list, against #35,739 for "profusão". 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 "profissão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "profusão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #26,897 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "profissão" and "profusão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "profusão vs propulsão". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #26,897 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