Which to use
“viola” is a noun and “violar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,052
- “viola” frequency rank
- #11,978
- “violar” frequency rank
- 17030
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | viola | violar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | instrumento musical de corda semelhante ao violino levemente maior e afinado uma quinta abaixo | infringir |
Where the eye mixes viola and violar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: viola vs violar
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: viola is /ˈvjɔ.lɐ/ while violar is /vju.ˈlaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “viola” sits inside “violar”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17030, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
viola is recorded at frequency rank #5,052, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈvjɔ.lɐ/. 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 17030, this pair ranks #54,325 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of viola vs violar
Shared letters: ailov. Private to "viola": -. Private to "violar": r.
"viola" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "violar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "viola" and "violar" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "viola" or "violar" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "viola" 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 #54,325 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "viola" 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 #54,325 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.