negarvsnevarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,257
“negar” frequency rank
#39,763
“nevar” frequency rank
44020
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature negar nevar
Definition afirmar que algo não é verdadeiro ou que não existe cobrir de neve

Where the eye mixes negar and nevar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. negar and nevar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
negar
5 ch
nevar

Visual trap between negar and nevar

A purely visual mix-up. negar (/nɨ.ˈɡaɾ/) and nevar (/neˈva(ʁ)/, [neˈva(h)]) 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 a single letter - g in “negar” becomes v in “nevar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44020, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

negar is recorded at frequency rank #4,257, classified as averb, pronounced /nɨ.ˈɡaɾ/. nevar is at rank #39,763, tagged as averb, pronounced /neˈva(ʁ)/, [neˈva(h)].

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 44020, this pair ranks #21,526 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of negar vs nevar

Shared letters: aenr. Private to "negar": g. Private to "nevar": v.

"negar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "nevar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • negar ← engar · neagr · negarr · neggar · ngear · nnegar
  • nevar ← envar · neavr · nevarr · nevra · nevvar · nnevar · nvear

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "negar" and "nevar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/nɨ.ˈɡaɾ/ versus /neˈva(ʁ)/, [neˈva(h)]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "negar" or "nevar" show up more?
"negar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,257 in our Portuguese list, against #39,763 for "nevar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "negar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nevar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #21,526 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "negar" and "nevar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nena vs nevar". 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 #21,526 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