vagovsvarãoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“vago” and “varão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,858
“vago” frequency rank
#29,181
“varão” frequency rank
43039
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vago varão
Definition sem um sentido bem definido de sexo masculino:

Where the eye mixes vago and varão

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

4 ch
vago
5 ch
varão

Look-alike desk: vago vs varão

A purely visual mix-up. vago (/ˈva.ɡu/) and varão (/va.ˈɾɐ~w/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43039, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vago is recorded at frequency rank #13,858, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈva.ɡu/. varão is at rank #29,181, tagged as anadj, pronounced /va.ˈɾɐ~w/.

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 43039, this pair ranks #22,645 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vago vs varão

Shared letters: aov. Private to "vago": g. Private to "varão": rã.

"vago" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "varão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vago ← avgo · vaggo · vaog · vgao · vvago

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vago" and "varão" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈva.ɡu/ versus /va.ˈɾɐ~w/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "vago" vs "varão" - which ranks higher?
"vago" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,858 in our Portuguese list, against #29,181 for "varão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "vago" and "varão" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vago" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "varão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,645 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vago" and "varão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vaiar vs varão". 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 #22,645 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