principal
The verdict
“principal” is in the everyday core of Portuguese, ranked #510 in Portuguese word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #510
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 9
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - o mais importante
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | principal |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #510 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “principal” sits in Portuguese frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Portuguese entry for principal is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective. Corpus data places it at rank #510 in overall Portuguese word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for principal, with forms such as "pirncipal", "pprincipal", and "pricnipal". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "príncipe", "princípio", "principado", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct Portuguese form is principal, spelled P-R-I-N-C-I-P-A-L.
Definition
- 1o mais importante
- 2notável
- 3oração seguida por uma oração subordinada
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: pirncipal,pprincipal,pricnipal,princcipal,princiapl,principall,principla,princippal,princpial,prinicpal,prinncipal,prnicipal,prrincipal,rpincipal
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of principal - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "principal"?
What does "principal" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "principal"?
What language does "principal" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “principal”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is P-R-I-N-C-I-P-A-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “príncipe” - see the side-by-side comparison. principal vs príncipe
- Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.