vaziovsvícioTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#2,811
“vazio” frequency rank
#7,235
“vício” frequency rank
10046
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vazio vício
Definition que não contém nada; que não está com seu conteúdo habitual defeito

Where the eye mixes vazio and vício

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. vazio and vício follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
vazio
5 ch
vício

Why the eye confuses vazio with vício

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vazio is /vɐ.ˈzi.u/ while vício is /ˈvi.sju/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10046, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vazio is recorded at frequency rank #2,811, classified as anadj, pronounced /vɐ.ˈzi.u/. vício is at rank #7,235, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈvi.sju/.

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 10046, this pair ranks #63,181 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vazio vs vício

Shared letters: iov. Private to "vazio": az. Private to "vício": cí.

"vazio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "vício" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vazio ← avzio · vaizo · vazoi · vazzio · vvazio · vzaio

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vazio" and "vício" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vazio" is an adjective and "vício" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "vazio" or "vício"?
"vazio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,811 in our Portuguese list, against #7,235 for "vício". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vazio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vício" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #63,181 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vazio" and "vício" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vício vs Vini". 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 #63,181 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