concentrarvscontentarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,277
“concentrar” frequency rank
#19,385
“contentar” frequency rank
25662
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature concentrar contentar
Definition fazer convergir a um centro tornar contente

Where the eye mixes concentrar and contentar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. concentrar runs 10 letters (CVCCVCCCVC) against contentar's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
concentrar
9 ch
contentar

Visual trap between concentrar and contentar

A purely visual mix-up. concentrar (/kõ.sẽ.ˈtɾaɾ/) and contentar (/kõ.tẽ.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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25662, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

concentrar is recorded at frequency rank #6,277, classified as averb, pronounced /kõ.sẽ.ˈtɾaɾ/. contentar is at rank #19,385, tagged as averb, pronounced /kõ.tẽ.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 25662, this pair ranks #43,622 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of concentrar vs contentar

Shared letters: acenort. Private to "concentrar": -. Private to "contentar": -.

"concentrar" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVC  ·  "contentar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • concentrarcconcentrar · cnocentrar · cocnentrar · conccentrar · concenntrar · concenrtar · concentarr · concentrarr
  • contentarccontentar · cnotentar · conetntar · conntentar · contenatr · contenntar · contentarr · contentra

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "concentrar" for "contentar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kõ.sẽ.ˈtɾaɾ/ versus /kõ.tẽ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "concentrar" or "contentar" show up more?
"concentrar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,277 in our Portuguese list, against #19,385 for "contentar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "concentrar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "contentar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,622 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "concentrar" and "contentar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "concertar vs contentar". 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 #43,622 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list