consumarvsconsumirWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#43,351
“consumar” frequency rank
#11,238
“consumir” frequency rank
54589
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature consumar consumir
Definition chegar ou fazer chegar ao fim; acabar(-se), completar(-se), terminar(-se) destruir

Where the eye mixes consumar and consumir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
consumar
8 ch
consumir

Why the eye confuses consumar with consumir

A purely visual mix-up. consumar (/kõ.su.ˈmaɾ/) and consumir (/kõ.su.ˈmiɾ/) 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 a single letter - a in “consumar” becomes i in “consumir”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54589, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

consumar is recorded at frequency rank #43,351, classified as averb, pronounced /kõ.su.ˈmaɾ/. consumir is at rank #11,238, tagged as averb, pronounced /kõ.su.ˈmiɾ/.

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 54589, this pair ranks #11,158 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of consumar vs consumir

Shared letters: cmnorsu. Private to "consumar": a. Private to "consumir": i.

"consumar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "consumir" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • consumarcconsumar · cnosumar · connsumar · consmuar · conssumar · consuamr · consumarr · consummar
  • consumircconsumir · cnosumir · connsumir · consmuir · conssumir · consuimr · consumirr · consummir

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "consumar" for "consumir" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kõ.su.ˈmaɾ/ versus /kõ.su.ˈmiɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "consumar" vs "consumir" - which ranks higher?
"consumir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,238 in our Portuguese list, against #43,351 for "consumar". 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 "consumar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "consumir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,158 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "consumar" and "consumir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "conjugar vs consumar". 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 #11,158 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