paravsparteTell them apart

Quick tell: para is a preposition, parte is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“para” is a preposition and “parte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10
“para” frequency rank
#114
“parte” frequency rank
124
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature para parte
Definition exprime fim, destino, lugar, tempo, direção etc porção de um todo

Where the eye mixes para and parte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
para
5 ch
parte

Visual trap between para and parte

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: para is /ˈpɐ.ɾɐ/ while parte is /ˈpaɾ.tɨ/, /ˈpaɾt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 124, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

para is recorded at frequency rank #10, classified as aprep, pronounced /ˈpɐ.ɾɐ/. parte is at rank #114, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpaɾ.tɨ/, /ˈpaɾt/.

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 124, this pair ranks #75,536 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of para vs parte

Shared letters: apr. Private to "para": -. Private to "parte": et.

"para" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "parte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paraapra · paar · ppara · praa
  • parteaprte · paret · parrte · partte · patre · pparte · prate

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "para" and "parte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "para" is a preposition and "parte" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "para" or "parte" show up more?
"para" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10 in our Portuguese list, against #114 for "parte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "para" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "parte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,536 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "para" and "parte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pale vs parte". 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 #75,536 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