pânicovspárocoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pânico is a adjective, pároco is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#3,857
“pânico” frequency rank
#23,470
“pároco” frequency rank
27327
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pânico pároco
Definition que assusta sem motivo encarregado de uma paróquia

Where the eye mixes pânico and pároco

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pânico and pároco follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
pânico
6 ch
pároco

Why the eye confuses pânico with pároco

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pânico is /ˈpɐ.ni.ku/ while pároco is /ˈpa.ɾu.ku/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27327, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pânico is recorded at frequency rank #3,857, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɐ.ni.ku/. pároco is at rank #23,470, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpa.ɾu.ku/.

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 27327, this pair ranks #41,664 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pânico vs pároco

Shared letters: cop. Private to "pânico": inâ. Private to "pároco": rá.

"pânico" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "pároco" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pânico" for "pároco" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pânico" is an adjective and "pároco" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "pânico" or "pároco" show up more?
"pânico" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,857 in our Portuguese list, against #23,470 for "pároco". 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 "pânico" and "pároco" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pânico" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pároco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #41,664 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pânico" and "pároco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paçoca vs pároco". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #41,664 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