pagarvspregarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#809
“pagar” frequency rank
#12,748
“pregar” frequency rank
13557
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pagar pregar
Definition remunerar fixar ou segurar com pregos

Letter map: pagar vs pregar

Shared letters muted; letters that set pagar and pregar apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

5 ch
pagar
6 ch
pregar

Pair insight - pagar / pregar

pagar and pregar are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13557, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pagar is recorded at frequency rank #809, classified as averb, pronounced /pɐ.ˈɡaɾ/. pregar is at rank #12,748, tagged as averb.

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 13557, this pair ranks #58,738 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pagar vs pregar

Shared letters: agpr. Private to "pagar": -. Private to "pregar": e.

"pagar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pregar" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pagarapgar · paagr · pagarr · paggar · pagra · pgaar · ppagar
  • pregarpergar · ppregar · preagr · pregarr · preggar · pregra · prgear · prregar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pagar" and "pregar" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "pagar" vs "pregar" - which ranks higher?
"pagar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #809 in our Portuguese list, against #12,748 for "pregar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "pagar" and "pregar".

  • Full dictionary entry for "pagar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pregar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,738 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pagar" and "pregar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "piegas vs pregar". 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 #58,738 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