varãovsvastoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#29,181
“varão” frequency rank
#8,553
“vasto” frequency rank
37734
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature varão vasto
Definition de sexo masculino: de grande extensão

Where the eye mixes varão and vasto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. varão (CVCVV) and vasto (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
varão
5 ch
vasto

Visual trap between varão and vasto

A purely visual mix-up. varão (/va.ˈɾɐ~w/) and vasto (/ˈvaʃ.tu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37734, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

varão is recorded at frequency rank #29,181, classified as anadj, pronounced /va.ˈɾɐ~w/. vasto is at rank #8,553, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈvaʃ.tu/.

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 37734, this pair ranks #28,832 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of varão vs vasto

Shared letters: aov. Private to "varão": rã. Private to "vasto": st.

"varão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "vasto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vasto ← avsto · vasot · vassto · vastto · vatso · vsato · vvasto

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "varão" for "vasto" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/va.ˈɾɐ~w/ versus /ˈvaʃ.tu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "varão" or "vasto"?
"vasto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,553 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.

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 "varão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vasto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,832 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "varão" and "vasto" 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 #28,832 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