apesar vs assar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“apesar” is an adverb and “assar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#404
“apesar” frequency rank: #22,870
“assar” frequency rank: 23274
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	apesar	assar
Definition	não obstante	cozinhar em seco, diretamente sobre o fogo ou no forno

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set apesar and assar apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

apesar

5 ch

assar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: apesar is /ɐ.pe.ˈzaɾ/ while assar is /ɐ.ˈsaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23274, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apesar is recorded at frequency rank #404, classified as anadv, pronounced /ɐ.pe.ˈzaɾ/. assar is at rank #22,870, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.ˈsaɾ/.

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 23274, this pair ranks #46,583 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of apesar vs assar

Shared letters: ars. Private to "apesar": ep. Private to "assar": -.

"apesar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "assar" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

apesar ← aepsar · apeasr · apesarr · apesra · apessar · appesar · apsear · paesar
assar ← asar · asasr · assarr · assra · sasar

Frequency comparison

apesar#404

assar#22,870

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "apesar" and "assar" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "apesar" is an adverb and "assar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "apesar" or "assar"?

"apesar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #404 in our Portuguese list, against #22,870 for "assar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering apesar vs assar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “apesar”; for a verb, it's “assar”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “apesar” entry
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