Which to use
“começar” and “começava” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #501
- “começar” frequency rank
- #10,675
- “começava” frequency rank
- 11176
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | começar | começava |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | dar início a alguma coisa | primeira pessoa do singular do pretérito imperfeito do indicativo do verbo começar |
Where the eye mixes começar and começava
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. começar runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against começava's 8 (CVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: começar vs começava
A purely visual mix-up. começar (/ku.mɨ.ˈsaɾ/) and começava (/ko.me.ˈsa.vɐ/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11176, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
começar is recorded at frequency rank #501, classified as averb, pronounced /ku.mɨ.ˈsaɾ/. começava is at rank #10,675, tagged as averb, pronounced /ko.me.ˈsa.vɐ/.
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 11176, this pair ranks #61,741 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of começar vs começava
Shared letters: acemoç. Private to "começar": r. Private to "começava": v.
"começar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "começava" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "começar" and "começava" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "começar" vs "começava" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "começar" and "começava" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "começar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "começava" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #61,741 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "começar" and "começava" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coçar vs começar". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #61,741 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.