assustado vs assustar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“assustado” is an adjective and “assustar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,178
“assustado” frequency rank: #11,394
“assustar” frequency rank: 23572
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	assustado	assustar
Definition	tímido	provocar susto ou receio; intimidar:

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set assustado and assustar apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch

assustado

8 ch

assustar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: assustado is /ɐ.suʃ.ˈta.du/ while assustar is /ɐ.suʃ.ˈtaɾ/. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23572, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

assustado is recorded at frequency rank #12,178, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɐ.suʃ.ˈta.du/. assustar is at rank #11,394, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.suʃ.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 23572, this pair ranks #46,235 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of assustado vs assustar

Shared letters: astu. Private to "assustado": do. Private to "assustar": r.

"assustado" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV · "assustar" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

assustado ← asssutado · assusatdo · assusstado · assustaddo · assustaod · assustdao · assusttado · assutsado
assustar ← asssutar · assusatr · assusstar · assustarr · assustra · assusttar · assutsar · asusstar

Frequency comparison

assustado#12,178

assustar#11,394

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "assustado" and "assustar" be used interchangeably?

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

Which is more common, "assustado" or "assustar"?

"assustar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,394 in our Portuguese list, against #12,178 for "assustado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering assustado vs assustar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “assustado”; for a verb, it's “assustar”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “assustado” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable