víciovsvivoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,235
“vício” frequency rank
#513
“vivo” frequency rank
7748
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vício vivo
Definition defeito vida

Where the eye mixes vício and vivo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
vício
4 ch
vivo

Look-alike desk: vício vs vivo

A purely visual mix-up. vício (/ˈvi.sju/) and vivo (/ˈvi.vɔ/) 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 7748, 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/. vivo is at rank #513, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈvi.vɔ/.

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 7748, this pair ranks #66,304 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vício vs vivo

Shared letters: iov. Private to "vício": . Private to "vivo": -.

"vício" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "vivo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vivoivvo · viov · vivvo · vvio · vvivo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "vício" and "vivo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈvi.sju/ versus /ˈvi.vɔ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "vício" or "vivo" show up more?
"vivo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #513 in our Portuguese list, against #7,235 for "vício". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "vivo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,304 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vício" and "vivo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "velo vs vivo". 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 #66,304 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