marcarvsmarcharConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,842
“marcar” frequency rank
#16,816
“marchar” frequency rank
19658
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marcar marchar
Definition pôr uma marca ou sinal andar, caminhar

Where the eye mixes marcar and marchar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. marcar runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against marchar's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
marcar
7 ch
marchar

Look-alike desk: marcar vs marchar

A purely visual mix-up. marcar (/mɐɾ.ˈkaɾ/) and marchar (/mɐɾ.ˈʃaɾ/) 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 19658, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marcar is recorded at frequency rank #2,842, classified as averb, pronounced /mɐɾ.ˈkaɾ/. marchar is at rank #16,816, tagged as averb, pronounced /mɐɾ.ˈʃaɾ/.

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 19658, this pair ranks #51,038 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of marcar vs marchar

Shared letters: acmr. Private to "marcar": -. Private to "marchar": h.

"marcar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "marchar" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • marcar ← amrcar · macrar · maracr · marcarr · marccar · marcra · marrcar · mmarcar
  • marchar ← amrchar · macrhar · marcahr · marcchar · marcharr · marchhar · marchra · marhcar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "marcar" for "marchar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/mɐɾ.ˈkaɾ/ versus /mɐɾ.ˈʃaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "marcar" or "marchar"?
"marcar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,842 in our Portuguese list, against #16,816 for "marchar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "marcar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "marchar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,038 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "marcar" and "marchar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "machão vs marchar". 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 #51,038 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