Which to use
“travão” and “trevas” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,127
- “travão” frequency rank
- #7,988
- “trevas” frequency rank
- 55115
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | travão | trevas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | alavanca que detém o movimento de uma máquina | escuridão |
Where the eye mixes travão and trevas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. travão (CCVCVV) and trevas (CCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses travão with trevas
A purely visual mix-up. travão (/tɾa.'boŋ/) and trevas (/ˈtɾɛ.vɐʃ/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55115, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
travão is recorded at frequency rank #47,127, classified as anoun, pronounced /tɾa.'boŋ/. trevas is at rank #7,988, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɾɛ.vɐʃ/.
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 55115, this pair ranks #10,790 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of travão vs trevas
Shared letters: artv. Private to "travão": oã. Private to "trevas": es.
"travão" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV · "trevas" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- trevas ← rtevas · tervas · treavs · trevass · trevsa · trevvas · trrevas · trveas
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "travão" and "trevas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "travão" or "trevas" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "travão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "trevas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #10,790 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "travão" and "trevas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "talão vs travão". 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 #10,790 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.