vagovsvasWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#13,858
“vago” frequency rank
#38,077
“vas” frequency rank
51935
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vago vas
Definition sem um sentido bem definido vaso

Letter map: vago vs vas

Shared letters muted; letters that set vago and vas apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. vago runs 4 letters (CVCV) against vas's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
vago
3 ch
vas

Grammar separator: vago vs vas

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: vago is anadjective and vasanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51935, 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/. vas is at rank #38,077, tagged as anoun.

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 51935, this pair ranks #13,176 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vago vs vas

Shared letters: av. Private to "vago": go. Private to "vas": s.

"vago" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "vas" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vago" and "vas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vago" is an adjective and "vas" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vago" or "vas"?
"vago" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,858 in our Portuguese list, against #38,077 for "vas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "vago" vs "vas" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vago" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,176 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vago" and "vas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vas vs vet". 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 #13,176 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