viaçãovsvícioConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#17,667
“viação” frequency rank
#7,235
“vício” frequency rank
24902
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature viação vício
Definition empresa de ônibus ou de outros veículos de passageiros defeito

Where the eye mixes viação and vício

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. viação runs 6 letters (CVVCVV) against vício's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
viação
5 ch
vício

Look-alike desk: viação vs vício

A purely visual mix-up. viação (/vjɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and vício (/ˈvi.sju/) 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 24902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

viação is recorded at frequency rank #17,667, classified as anoun, pronounced /vjɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. 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 24902, this pair ranks #44,547 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of viação vs vício

Shared letters: iov. Private to "viação": aãç. Private to "vício": cí.

"viação" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV  ·  "vício" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "viação" for "vício" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/vjɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /ˈvi.sju/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "viação" vs "vício" - which ranks higher?
"vício" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,235 in our Portuguese list, against #17,667 for "viação". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "viação" 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 #44,547 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "viação" and "vício" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vício vs Vini". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #44,547 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