paravspegaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: para is a preposition, pega is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#10
“para” frequency rank
#2,340
“pega” frequency rank
2350
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature para pega
Definition exprime fim, destino, lugar, tempo, direção etc designativo de cavalo malhado

Where the eye mixes para and pega

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
para
4 ch
pega

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: para is /ˈpɐ.ɾɐ/ while pega is /ˈpɛ.gɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2350, 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/. pega is at rank #2,340, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɛ.gɐ/.

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 2350, this pair ranks #73,058 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of para vs pega

Shared letters: ap. Private to "para": r. Private to "pega": eg.

"para" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pega" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paraapra · paar · ppara · praa
  • pegaepga · peag · pegga · pgea · ppega

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "para" and "pega" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "para" is a preposition and "pega" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "para" or "pega"?
"para" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10 in our Portuguese list, against #2,340 for "pega". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "para" and "pega". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "para" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pega" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #73,058 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "para" and "pega" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pega vs piegas". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list