usar
/u.ˈzaɾ/
The verdict
“usar” is in the everyday core of Portuguese, ranked #359 in Portuguese word frequency and used as a verb.
- #359
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 4
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 12
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - empregar habitualmente; fazer uso de; gastar com o uso; pôr em prática; pôr em uso; servir-se de; trazer ou fazer habitualmente; ter por costume; costumar; cotiar; deteriorar; praticar; trajar; tra...
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 | usar |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /u.ˈzaɾ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #359 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 12 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “usar” sits in Portuguese frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Portuguese entry for usar is 4 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /u.ˈzaɾ/. Corpus data places it at rank #359 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 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for usar, with forms such as "uasr", "usarr", and "usra". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "use", "uva", "usual", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Portuguese form is usar, spelled U-S-A-R.
Definition
- 1empregar habitualmente; fazer uso de; gastar com o uso; pôr em prática; pôr em uso; servir-se de; trazer ou fazer habitualmente; ter por costume; costumar; cotiar; deteriorar; praticar; trajar; trazer; vestir
- 2estar acostumado; ter o hábito ou a prática de; servir-se
- 3estar em uso, praticar-se
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: uasr,usarr,usra,ussar
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of usar - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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
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Using “usar”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is U-S-A-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /u.ˈzaɾ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “use” - see the side-by-side comparison. usar vs use
- 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.