viajarvsviolarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,000
“viajar” frequency rank
#11,978
“violar” frequency rank
13978
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature viajar violar
Definition ir de um lugar para outro, geralmente distante infringir

Where the eye mixes viajar and violar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. viajar and violar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
viajar
6 ch
violar

Why the eye confuses viajar with violar

A purely visual mix-up. viajar (/vjɐ.ˈʒaɾ/) and violar (/vju.ˈlaɾ/) 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 13978, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

viajar is recorded at frequency rank #2,000, classified as averb, pronounced /vjɐ.ˈʒaɾ/. violar is at rank #11,978, tagged as averb, pronounced /vju.ˈlaɾ/.

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 13978, this pair ranks #58,232 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of viajar vs violar

Shared letters: airv. Private to "viajar": j. Private to "violar": lo.

"viajar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "violar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • viajar ← ivajar · vaijar · viaajr · viajarr · viajjar · viajra · vijaar · vviajar
  • violar ← ivolar · viloar · vioalr · violarr · viollar · violra · voilar · vviolar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "viajar" for "violar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/vjɐ.ˈʒaɾ/ versus /vju.ˈlaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "viajar" or "violar"?
"viajar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,000 in our Portuguese list, against #11,978 for "violar". 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 "viajar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "violar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,232 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "viajar" and "violar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "velar vs violar". 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 #58,232 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