traçarvstravãoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: traçar is a verb, travão is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“traçar” is a verb and “travão” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,976
“traçar” frequency rank
#47,127
“travão” frequency rank
59103
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature traçar travão
Definition representar por meio de traços alavanca que detém o movimento de uma máquina

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set traçar and travão apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
traçar
6 ch
travão

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: traçar is /tɾɐ.ˈsaɾ/ while travão is /tɾa.'boŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59103, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

traçar is recorded at frequency rank #11,976, classified as averb, pronounced /tɾɐ.ˈsaɾ/. travão is at rank #47,127, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɾa.'boŋ/.

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 59103, this pair ranks #8,371 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of traçar vs travão

Shared letters: art. Private to "traçar": ç. Private to "travão": ovã.

"traçar" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "travão" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV

Frequency comparison

traçar#11,976
travão#47,127

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "traçar" and "travão" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "traçar" is a verb and "travão" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "traçar" or "travão"?
"traçar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,976 in our Portuguese list, against #47,127 for "travão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering traçar vs travão

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “traçar”; for a noun, it's “travão”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “traçar” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list