Which to use
“furar” and “furtar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,378
- “furar” frequency rank
- #31,387
- “furtar” frequency rank
- 45765
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | furar | furtar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | abrir furo, buraco ou rombo em; cavar | subtrair algo alheio sem uso de violência ou ameaça |
Where the eye mixes furar and furtar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. furar runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against furtar's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses furar with furtar
A purely visual mix-up. furar (/fu.ˈɾaɾ/) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45765, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
furar is recorded at frequency rank #14,378, classified as averb, pronounced /fu.ˈɾaɾ/. 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 45765, this pair ranks #19,632 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of furar vs furtar
Shared letters: afru. Private to "furar": -. Private to "furtar": t.
"furar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "furtar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "furar" and "furtar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "furar" or "furtar" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "furar" and "furtar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "furar" 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 #19,632 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "furar" 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 #19,632 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.