gozarvsguiarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,742
“gozar” frequency rank
#13,529
“guiar” frequency rank
19271
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gozar guiar
Definition aproveitar, desfrutar conduzir, orientar

Where the eye mixes gozar and guiar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. gozar (CVCVC) and guiar (CVVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
gozar
5 ch
guiar

Look-alike desk: gozar vs guiar

A purely visual mix-up. gozar (/ɡu.ˈzaɾ/) and guiar (/ˈɡjaɾ/) 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 19271, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gozar is recorded at frequency rank #5,742, classified as averb, pronounced /ɡu.ˈzaɾ/. guiar is at rank #13,529, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɡjaɾ/.

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 19271, this pair ranks #51,501 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gozar vs guiar

Shared letters: agr. Private to "gozar": oz. Private to "guiar": iu.

"gozar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "guiar" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gozar ← ggozar · goazr · gozarr · gozra · gozzar · gzoar · ogzar
  • guiar ← gguiar · giuar · guair · guiarr · guira · ugiar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gozar" for "guiar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɡu.ˈzaɾ/ versus /ˈɡjaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gozar" or "guiar"?
"gozar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,742 in our Portuguese list, against #13,529 for "guiar". 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 "gozar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "guiar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,501 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gozar" and "guiar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Guam vs guiar". 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 #51,501 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