veladovsvilãoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,169
“velado” frequency rank
#7,232
“vilão” frequency rank
32401
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature velado vilão
Definition coberto com véu relativo ou pertencente à vila

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set velado and vilão apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
velado
5 ch
vilão

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. velado (/vɨ.ˈla.du/) and vilão (/bi.'laŋ/, /bi.'la.o/ ou /bi.'law/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32401, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

velado is recorded at frequency rank #25,169, classified as anadj, pronounced /vɨ.ˈla.du/. vilão is at rank #7,232, tagged as anadj, pronounced /bi.'laŋ/, /bi.'la.o/ ou /bi.'law/.

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 32401, this pair ranks #35,426 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of velado vs vilão

Shared letters: lov. Private to "velado": ade. Private to "vilão": .

"velado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "vilão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • veladoevlado · vealdo · veladdo · velaod · veldao · vellado · vleado · vvelado

Frequency comparison

velado#25,169
vilão#7,232

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "velado" and "vilão" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/vɨ.ˈla.du/ versus /bi.'laŋ/, /bi.'la.o/ ou /bi.'law/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "velado" or "vilão"?
"vilão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,232 in our Portuguese list, against #25,169 for "velado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering velado vs vilão

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “velado” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list