paivsparWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pai is a noun, par is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pai” is a noun and “par” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#240
“pai” frequency rank
#2,060
“par” frequency rank
2300
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pai par
Definition homem que tem filhos, naturais ou adotivos diz-se dos números divisíveis por 2

Letter map: pai vs par

Shared letters muted; letters that set pai and par apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
pai
3 ch
par

Part-of-speech tell for pai / par

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: pai is anoun and paranadjective. On the page they differ by a single letter - i in “pai” becomes r in “par”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2300, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pai is recorded at frequency rank #240, classified as anoun. par is at rank #2,060, tagged as anadj, pronounced /paχ/.

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 2300, this pair ranks #73,125 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pai vs par

Shared letters: ap. Private to "pai": i. Private to "par": r.

"pai" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "par" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pai" and "par" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pai" is a noun and "par" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pai" or "par"?
"pai" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #240 in our Portuguese list, against #2,060 for "par". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "pai" vs "par" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "par" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #73,125 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pai" and "par" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "par vs pix". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #73,125 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