Which to use
“vão” is an adjective and “vas” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #253
- “vão” frequency rank
- #38,077
- “vas” frequency rank
- 38330
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vão | vas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | vazio | vaso |
Letter map: vão vs vas
Shared letters muted; letters that set vão and vas apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. vão (CVV) and vas (CVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Part-of-speech tell for vão / vas
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: vão is anadjective and vasanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38330, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
vão is recorded at frequency rank #253, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈvɐ̃w̃/ [ˈvɐ̃ʊ̯̃]. 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 38330, this pair ranks #28,142 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of vão vs vas
Shared letters: v. Private to "vão": oã. Private to "vas": as.
"vão" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "vas" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "vão" and "vas" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "vão" or "vas" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've compared "vão" and "vas". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "vão" 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 #28,142 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vão" and "vas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vas vs vet". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #28,142 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.