nadarvsnotarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#9,539
“nadar” frequency rank
#4,938
“notar” frequency rank
14477
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nadar notar
Definition deslocar-se na água ou sustentar-se sobre ela usando recursos do próprio corpo (pés, mãos, braços, pernas, nadadeiras, cauda etc.) marcar

Where the eye mixes nadar and notar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
nadar
5 ch
notar

Why the eye confuses nadar with notar

A purely visual mix-up. nadar (/nɐ.ˈdaɾ/) and notar (/nu.ˈtaɾ/) 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 14477, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nadar is recorded at frequency rank #9,539, classified as averb, pronounced /nɐ.ˈdaɾ/. notar is at rank #4,938, tagged as averb, pronounced /nu.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 14477, this pair ranks #57,587 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nadar vs notar

Shared letters: anr. Private to "nadar": d. Private to "notar": ot.

"nadar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "notar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nadarnaadr · nadarr · naddar · nadra · ndaar · nnadar
  • notarnnotar · noatr · notarr · notra · nottar · ntoar · ontar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nadar" for "notar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/nɐ.ˈdaɾ/ versus /nu.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "nadar" or "notar"?
"notar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,938 in our Portuguese list, against #9,539 for "nadar". 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 "nadar" and "notar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nadar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "notar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,587 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nadar" and "notar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nadar vs nadie". 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 #57,587 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