vogalvsvotarTell them apart

Quick tell: vogal is a adjective, votar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vogal” is an adjective and “votar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,817
“vogal” frequency rank
#2,345
“votar” frequency rank
35162
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vogal votar
Definition que diz respeito ao fonema produzido sem qualquer obstáculo ao passar pela boca aprovar ou eleger por meio de voto

Where the eye mixes vogal and votar

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

5 ch
vogal
5 ch
votar

Why the eye confuses vogal with votar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vogal is /voˈɡaw/ while votar is /vu.ˈtaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35162, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vogal is recorded at frequency rank #32,817, classified as anadj, pronounced /voˈɡaw/. votar is at rank #2,345, tagged as averb, pronounced /vu.ˈtaɾ/.

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 35162, this pair ranks #31,924 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vogal vs votar

Shared letters: aov. Private to "vogal": gl. Private to "votar": rt.

"vogal" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "votar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vogalovgal · vgoal · voagl · vogall · voggal · vogla · vvogal
  • votarovtar · voatr · votarr · votra · vottar · vtoar · vvotar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vogal" and "votar" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vogal" is an adjective and "votar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "vogal" vs "votar" - which ranks higher?
"votar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,345 in our Portuguese list, against #32,817 for "vogal". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vogal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "votar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #31,924 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vogal" and "votar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vogal vs voraz". 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 #31,924 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