Which to use
“cessar” and “cursar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,729
- “cessar” frequency rank
- #19,107
- “cursar” frequency rank
- 27836
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cessar | cursar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | interromper, não continuar | seguir o curso de |
Where the eye mixes cessar and cursar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cessar and cursar
A purely visual mix-up. cessar (/sɨ.ˈsaɾ/) and cursar (/kuɾ.ˈsaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27836, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cessar is recorded at frequency rank #8,729, classified as averb, pronounced /sɨ.ˈsaɾ/. cursar is at rank #19,107, tagged as averb, pronounced /kuɾ.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 27836, this pair ranks #41,075 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cessar vs cursar
Shared letters: acrs. Private to "cessar": e. Private to "cursar": u.
"cessar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "cursar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cessar" and "cursar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cessar" or "cursar" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "cessar" and "cursar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cessar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cursar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #41,075 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cessar" and "cursar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cursar vs cursor". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #41,075 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.