Which to use
“trabalho” is a noun and “trabalhoso” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #131
- “trabalho” frequency rank
- #39,892
- “trabalhoso” frequency rank
- 40023
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | trabalho | trabalhoso |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | atividade física ou intelectual | que dá trabalho |
Where the eye mixes trabalho and trabalhoso
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. trabalho runs 8 letters (CCVCVCCV) against trabalhoso's 10 (CCVCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: trabalho vs trabalhoso
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: trabalho is /tɾɐ.ˈba.ʎu/ while trabalhoso is /tɾɐ.bɐ.ˈʎo.zu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “trabalho” sits inside “trabalhoso”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40023, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
trabalho is recorded at frequency rank #131, classified as anoun, pronounced /tɾɐ.ˈba.ʎu/. trabalhoso is at rank #39,892, tagged as anadj, pronounced /tɾɐ.bɐ.ˈʎo.zu/.
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 40023, this pair ranks #26,132 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of trabalho vs trabalhoso
Shared letters: abhlort. Private to "trabalho": -. Private to "trabalhoso": s.
"trabalho" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV · "trabalhoso" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- trabalho ← rtabalho · tarbalho · traablho · trabahlo · trabalhho · traballho · trabaloh · trabbalho
- trabalhoso ← rtabalhoso · tarbalhoso · traablhoso · trabahloso · trabalhhoso · trabalhoos · trabalhosso · trabalhsoo
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "trabalho" and "trabalhoso" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "trabalho" or "trabalhoso" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "trabalho" and "trabalhoso" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "trabalho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "trabalhoso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #26,132 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "trabalho" and "trabalhoso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trabalho vs trapalhão". 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 #26,132 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.