Which to use
“vão” is an adjective and “voo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #253
- “vão” frequency rank
- #3,051
- “voo” frequency rank
- 3304
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | vão | voo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | vazio | ato ou efeito de voar |
Where the eye mixes vão and voo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. vão and voo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between vão and voo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vão is /ˈvɐ̃w̃/ [ˈvɐ̃ʊ̯̃] while voo is /ˈvo.u/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - ã in “vão” becomes o in “voo”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3304, 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]. voo is at rank #3,051, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈvo.u/.
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 3304, this pair ranks #71,857 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of vão vs voo
Shared letters: ov. Private to "vão": ã. Private to "voo": -.
"vão" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "voo" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "vão" for "voo" ever safe?
Frequency check: "vão" vs "voo" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "vão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "voo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #71,857 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "vão" and "voo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "velo vs voo". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #71,857 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.