Trabalho vs. Emprego vs. Profissão: Talk About Work in Portuguese
Trabalho is broad, emprego often means a paid job, and profissão names an occupation or career. The borders can overlap in context.
Real Life Portuguese · 6 min read · Updated October 15, 2026
The short answer
Trabalho is the broadest of the three words. It can mean work as an activity, a task or assignment, and in some contexts a place of work. Fazer um trabalho may mean do a piece of work or complete an assignment; ir ao trabalho means go to work.
Use trabalho for work, a task, or a workplace
Because trabalho covers several ideas, add context when precision matters. Say meu trabalho como designer to describe your work or minha tarefa to focus on one task.
Tenho muito trabalho esta semana.
I have a lot of work this week.
Ela vai de ônibus para o trabalho.
She takes the bus to work.
Preciso terminar um trabalho da faculdade.
I need to finish a university assignment.
Use emprego for a position and profissão for an occupation
Emprego commonly means a job or paid position, especially when talking about having, finding, or losing one: procurar emprego, conseguir um emprego. Profissão is an occupation or career, often connected to training or a field of expertise: a profissão dela é arquitetura.
A person can change empregos without changing profissões. For example, a teacher may work at two schools over a career; the positions change, while the profession remains teaching. These words overlap in casual conversation, so focus on the distinction the sentence needs.
Meu primo está procurando emprego.
My cousin is looking for a job.
Qual é a sua profissão?
What is your profession?
Ela trocou de emprego, mas continua na mesma profissão.
She changed jobs but is still in the same profession.
Put it into practice
Trabalho can mean work, task, or workplace. Emprego often means a paid position. Profissão describes an occupation or career. Use the word that matches the focus of your sentence.
Quick practice
Which Portuguese example matches “She takes the bus to work”?
Choose an answer to check yourself.
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