morarvsmostrarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,962
“morar” frequency rank
#712
“mostrar” frequency rank
3674
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature morar mostrar
Definition habitar, viver, ter estabelecido residência fazer aparecer

Where the eye mixes morar and mostrar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. morar runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against mostrar's 7 (CVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
morar
7 ch
mostrar

Visual trap between morar and mostrar

A purely visual mix-up. morar (/mu.ˈɾaɾ/) and mostrar (/muʃ.ˈtɾaɾ/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3674, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

morar is recorded at frequency rank #2,962, classified as averb, pronounced /mu.ˈɾaɾ/. mostrar is at rank #712, tagged as averb, pronounced /muʃ.ˈtɾaɾ/.

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 3674, this pair ranks #71,422 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of morar vs mostrar

Shared letters: amor. Private to "morar": -. Private to "mostrar": st.

"morar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "mostrar" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • morar ← mmorar · moarr · morarr · morrar · mroar · omrar
  • mostrar ← mmostrar · mosrtar · mosstrar · mostarr · mostrarr · mostrra · mostrrar · mosttrar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "morar" for "mostrar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/mu.ˈɾaɾ/ versus /muʃ.ˈtɾaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "morar" vs "mostrar" - which ranks higher?
"mostrar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #712 in our Portuguese list, against #2,962 for "morar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "morar" and "mostrar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "morar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mostrar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #71,422 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "morar" and "mostrar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "morar vs morsa". 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 #71,422 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