limitarvslistarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,365
“limitar” frequency rank
#21,798
“listar” frequency rank
31163
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature limitar listar
Definition pôr limites em; demarcar fazer uma lista

Where the eye mixes limitar and listar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
limitar
6 ch
listar

Look-alike desk: limitar vs listar

A purely visual mix-up. limitar (/li.mi.ˈtaɾ/) and listar (/liʃ.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 31163, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

limitar is recorded at frequency rank #9,365, classified as averb, pronounced /li.mi.ˈtaɾ/. listar is at rank #21,798, tagged as averb, pronounced /liʃ.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 31163, this pair ranks #37,010 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of limitar vs listar

Shared letters: ailrt. Private to "limitar": m. Private to "listar": s.

"limitar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "listar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • limitarilmitar · liimtar · limiatr · limitarr · limitra · limittar · limmitar · limtiar
  • listarilstar · lisatr · lisstar · listarr · listtar · litsar · llistar · lsitar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "limitar" and "listar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/li.mi.ˈtaɾ/ versus /liʃ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "limitar" vs "listar" - which ranks higher?
"limitar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,365 in our Portuguese list, against #21,798 for "listar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "limitar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "listar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,010 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "limitar" and "listar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "listar vs listra". 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 #37,010 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