Which to use
“disparar” and “dispersar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,324
- “disparar” frequency rank
- #23,980
- “dispersar” frequency rank
- 32304
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | disparar | dispersar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | arremessar com violência | causar a dispersão de |
Where the eye mixes disparar and dispersar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. disparar runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against dispersar's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses disparar with dispersar
A purely visual mix-up. disparar (/diʃ.pɐ.ˈɾaɾ/) and dispersar (/diʃ.pɨɾ.ˈsaɾ/) 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 32304, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
disparar is recorded at frequency rank #8,324, classified as averb, pronounced /diʃ.pɐ.ˈɾaɾ/. dispersar is at rank #23,980, tagged as averb, pronounced /diʃ.pɨɾ.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 32304, this pair ranks #35,534 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of disparar vs dispersar
Shared letters: adiprs. Private to "disparar": -. Private to "dispersar": e.
"disparar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "dispersar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "disparar" for "dispersar" ever safe?
Frequency check: "disparar" vs "dispersar" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "disparar" and "dispersar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "disparar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dispersar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #35,534 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "disparar" and "dispersar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "discursar vs dispersar". 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 #35,534 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.