vibrarvsviolarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#23,525
“vibrar” frequency rank
#11,978
“violar” frequency rank
35503
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vibrar violar
Definition produzir movimento repetitivo e de escala pequena em um objeto infringir

Where the eye mixes vibrar and violar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
vibrar
6 ch
violar

Visual trap between vibrar and violar

A purely visual mix-up. vibrar (/vi.ˈbɾaɾ/) 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 35503, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vibrar is recorded at frequency rank #23,525, classified as averb, pronounced /vi.ˈbɾaɾ/. 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 35503, this pair ranks #31,547 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vibrar vs violar

Shared letters: airv. Private to "vibrar": b. Private to "violar": lo.

"vibrar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "violar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vibrarivbrar · vbirar · vibarr · vibbrar · vibrarr · vibrra · vibrrar · virbar
  • violarivolar · viloar · vioalr · violarr · viollar · violra · voilar · vviolar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vibrar" for "violar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/vi.ˈbɾaɾ/ versus /vju.ˈlaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "vibrar" vs "violar" - which ranks higher?
"violar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,978 in our Portuguese list, against #23,525 for "vibrar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vibrar" 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 #31,547 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vibrar" and "violar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vibrar vs vitral". 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 #31,547 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