paradavspassadaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“parada” and “passada” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,156
“parada” frequency rank
#1,340
“passada” frequency rank
3496
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature parada passada
Definition ação de parar ou deter-se ato de dar um passo

Where the eye mixes parada and passada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. parada runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against passada's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
parada
7 ch
passada

Look-alike desk: parada vs passada

A purely visual mix-up. parada (/paˈɾa.dɐ/) and passada (/pɐ.ˈsa.dɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3496, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

parada is recorded at frequency rank #2,156, classified as anoun, pronounced /paˈɾa.dɐ/. passada is at rank #1,340, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɐ.ˈsa.dɐ/.

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 3496, this pair ranks #71,648 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of parada vs passada

Shared letters: adp. Private to "parada": r. Private to "passada": s.

"parada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "passada" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • parada ← aprada · paarda · paraad · paradda · pardaa · parrada · pparada · praada
  • passada ← apssada · pasada · pasasda · passaad · passadda · passdaa · ppassada · psasada

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "parada" and "passada" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/paˈɾa.dɐ/ versus /pɐ.ˈsa.dɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "parada" or "passada" show up more?
"passada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,340 in our Portuguese list, against #2,156 for "parada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "parada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "passada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #71,648 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "parada" and "passada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "passada vs pescada". 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 #71,648 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