variação vs variado, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#6,356
“variação” frequency rank: #20,463
“variado” frequency rank: 26819
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	variação	variado
Definition	mudança	que sofreu variações

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set variação and variado apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch

variação

7 ch

variado

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: variação is /vɐ.ɾjɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ while variado is /vɐ.ˈɾja.du/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26819, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

variação is recorded at frequency rank #6,356, classified as anoun, pronounced /vɐ.ɾjɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. variado is at rank #20,463, tagged as anadj, pronounced /vɐ.ˈɾja.du/.

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 26819, this pair ranks #42,274 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of variação vs variado

Shared letters: aiorv. Private to "variação": ãç. Private to "variado": d.

"variação" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVV · "variado" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

variado ← avriado · vairado · varaido · variaddo · variaod · varidao · varriado · vraiado

Frequency comparison

variação#6,356

variado#20,463

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "variação" and "variado" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "variação" is a noun and "variado" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "variação" or "variado"?

"variação" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,356 in our Portuguese list, against #20,463 for "variado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering variação vs variado

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “variação”; for an adjective, it's “variado”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “variação” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable