par vs per, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#2,060
“par” frequency rank: #5,775
“per” frequency rank: 7835
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	par	per
Definition	diz-se dos números divisíveis por 2	por

Letter map: par vs per

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

3 ch

par

3 ch

per

Grammar separator: par vs per

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: par is anadjective and perapreposition. On the page they differ by a single letter - a in “par” becomes e in “per”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7835, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

par is recorded at frequency rank #2,060, classified as anadj, pronounced /paχ/. per is at rank #5,775, tagged as aprep.

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 7835, this pair ranks #66,183 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of par vs per

Shared letters: pr. Private to "par": a. Private to "per": e.

"par" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "per" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "par" and "per" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "par" is an adjective and "per" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Frequency check: "par" vs "per" - which ranks higher?

"par" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,060 in our Portuguese list, against #5,775 for "per". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

Full dictionary entry for "par" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "per" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #66,183 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"par" and "per" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "per vs pix". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #66,183 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.