acerta vs acertar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“acerta” and “acertar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,590
“acerta” frequency rank: #5,590
“acertar” frequency rank: 18180
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	acerta	acertar
Definition	terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo acertar	pôr acerto em

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set acerta and acertar apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

acerta

7 ch

acertar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. acerta (/ɐ.ˈsɛɹ.tɐ/) and acertar (/ɐ.sɨɾ.ˈtaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “acerta” sits inside “acertar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18180, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

acerta is recorded at frequency rank #12,590, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.ˈsɛɹ.tɐ/. acertar is at rank #5,590, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.sɨɾ.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 18180, this pair ranks #52,867 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of acerta vs acertar

Shared letters: acert. Private to "acerta": -. Private to "acertar": -.

"acerta" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV · "acertar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

acerta ← accerta · acerat · acerrta · acertta · acetra · acreta · aecrta · caerta
acertar ← accertar · aceratr · acerrtar · acertarr · acertra · acerttar · acetrar · acretar

Frequency comparison

acerta#12,590

acertar#5,590

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "acerta" and "acertar" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ɐ.ˈsɛɹ.tɐ/ versus /ɐ.sɨɾ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "acerta" or "acertar"?

"acertar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,590 in our Portuguese list, against #12,590 for "acerta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering acerta vs acertar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “acerta” entry
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