vacavsvazarWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#4,687
“vaca” frequency rank
#15,707
“vazar” frequency rank
20394
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vaca vazar
Definition feminino de boi tornar vazio

Where the eye mixes vaca and vazar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
vaca
5 ch
vazar

Look-alike desk: vaca vs vazar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vaca is [ˈväkɐ] while vazar is /vɐ.ˈzaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20394, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vaca is recorded at frequency rank #4,687, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈväkɐ]. vazar is at rank #15,707, tagged as averb, pronounced /vɐ.ˈzaɾ/.

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 20394, this pair ranks #50,144 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vaca vs vazar

Shared letters: av. Private to "vaca": c. Private to "vazar": rz.

"vaca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "vazar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vacaavca · vaac · vacca · vcaa · vvaca
  • vazaravzar · vaazr · vazarr · vazra · vazzar · vvazar · vzaar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vaca" and "vazar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vaca" is a noun and "vazar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "vaca" or "vazar" show up more?
"vaca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,687 in our Portuguese list, against #15,707 for "vazar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vaca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vazar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,144 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vaca" and "vazar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vazar vs velar". 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 #50,144 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