víciovsvigiaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,235
“vício” frequency rank
#12,798
“vigia” frequency rank
20033
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vício vigia
Definition defeito profissional responsável por zelar pela segurança de uma determinada área

Where the eye mixes vício and vigia

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. vício and vigia follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
vício
5 ch
vigia

Visual trap between vício and vigia

A purely visual mix-up. vício (/ˈvi.sju/) and vigia (/vi.ˈʒi.ɐ/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20033, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vício is recorded at frequency rank #7,235, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈvi.sju/. vigia is at rank #12,798, tagged as anoun, pronounced /vi.ˈʒi.ɐ/.

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 20033, this pair ranks #50,577 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vício vs vigia

Shared letters: iv. Private to "vício": coí. Private to "vigia": ag.

"vício" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "vigia" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vigia ← ivgia · vgiia · vigai · viggia · viiga · vvigia

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vício" and "vigia" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈvi.sju/ versus /vi.ˈʒi.ɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "vício" vs "vigia" - which ranks higher?
"vício" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,235 in our Portuguese list, against #12,798 for "vigia". 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 "vício" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vigia" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,577 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vício" and "vigia" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vigia 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 #50,577 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