firmarvsfurtarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#16,766
“firmar” frequency rank
#31,387
“furtar” frequency rank
48153
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature firmar furtar
Definition tornar firme subtrair algo alheio sem uso de violência ou ameaça

Where the eye mixes firmar and furtar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. firmar and furtar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
firmar
6 ch
furtar

Visual trap between firmar and furtar

A purely visual mix-up. firmar (/fiɾ.ˈmaɾ/) and furtar (/fuɾ.ˈtaɾ/) 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 48153, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

firmar is recorded at frequency rank #16,766, classified as averb, pronounced /fiɾ.ˈmaɾ/. furtar is at rank #31,387, tagged as averb, pronounced /fuɾ.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 48153, this pair ranks #17,044 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of firmar vs furtar

Shared letters: afr. Private to "firmar": im. Private to "furtar": tu.

"firmar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "furtar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • firmar ← ffirmar · fimrar · firamr · firmarr · firmmar · firmra · firrmar · frimar
  • furtar ← ffurtar · frutar · furatr · furrtar · furtarr · furtra · furttar · futrar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "firmar" for "furtar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/fiɾ.ˈmaɾ/ versus /fuɾ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "firmar" vs "furtar" - which ranks higher?
"firmar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,766 in our Portuguese list, against #31,387 for "furtar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "firmar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "furtar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,044 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "firmar" and "furtar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fartar vs furtar". 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 #17,044 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