paravspuréWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#10
“para” frequency rank
#41,198
“puré” frequency rank
41208
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature para puré
Definition exprime fim, destino, lugar, tempo, direção etc iguaria feita de legumes, carnes ou frutas raladas transformadas num caldo grosso ou numa massa pastosa

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set para and puré apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
para
4 ch
puré

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: para is /ˈpɐ.ɾɐ/ while puré is /pu.ˈɾɛ/. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41208, 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/. puré is at rank #41,198, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pu.ˈɾɛ/.

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 41208, this pair ranks #24,750 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of para vs puré

Shared letters: pr. Private to "para": a. Private to "puré": .

"para" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "puré" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paraapra · paar · ppara · praa

Frequency comparison

para#10
puré#41,198

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "para" and "puré" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "para" is a preposition and "puré" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "para" or "puré"?
"para" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10 in our Portuguese list, against #41,198 for "puré". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering para vs puré

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a preposition, it's “para”; for a noun, it's “puré”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “para” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list