vagavsvergaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: vaga is a adjective, verga is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vaga” is an adjective and “verga” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,456
“vaga” frequency rank
#44,637
“verga” frequency rank
47093
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vaga verga
Definition feminino de vago vara flexível e delgada

Where the eye mixes vaga and verga

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. vaga runs 4 letters (CVCV) against verga's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
vaga
5 ch
verga

Look-alike desk: vaga vs verga

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vaga is /ˈva.ɡɐ/ while verga is /ˈveɾ.ɡɐ/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47093, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vaga is recorded at frequency rank #2,456, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈva.ɡɐ/. verga is at rank #44,637, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈveɾ.ɡɐ/.

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 47093, this pair ranks #18,189 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vaga vs verga

Shared letters: agv. Private to "vaga": -. Private to "verga": er.

"vaga" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "verga" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vaga ← avga · vaag · vagga · vgaa · vvaga
  • verga ← evrga · vegra · verag · vergga · verrga · vrega · vverga

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vaga" for "verga" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vaga" is an adjective and "verga" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "vaga" vs "verga" - which ranks higher?
"vaga" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,456 in our Portuguese list, against #44,637 for "verga". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "vaga" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "verga" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,189 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vaga" and "verga" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "verga vs verruga". 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 #18,189 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