parar vs parir, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#656
“parar” frequency rank: #38,846
“parir” frequency rank: 39502
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	parar	parir
Definition	interromper um movimento ou uma ação	a ação do parto; realizar o nascimento de uma nova vida gerada em um útero (nos animais vivíparos)

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set parar and parir apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

parar

5 ch

parir

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. parar (/pɐ.ˈɾaɾ/, /pɐ.ˈɾa/) and parir (/paˈɾi(ʁ)/ [paˈɾi(h)]) 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 a single letter - a in “parar” becomes i in “parir”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39502, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

parar is recorded at frequency rank #656, classified as averb, pronounced /pɐ.ˈɾaɾ/, /pɐ.ˈɾa/. parir is at rank #38,846, tagged as averb, pronounced /paˈɾi(ʁ)/ [paˈɾi(h)].

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 39502, this pair ranks #26,729 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of parar vs parir

Shared letters: apr. Private to "parar": -. Private to "parir": i.

"parar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "parir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

parar ← aprar · paarr · pararr · parrar · pparar · praar
parir ← aprir · pairr · parirr · parri · parrir · pparir · prair

Frequency comparison

parar#656

parir#38,846

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "parar" and "parir" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/pɐ.ˈɾaɾ/, /pɐ.ˈɾa/ versus /paˈɾi(ʁ)/ [paˈɾi(h)]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "parar" or "parir"?

"parar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #656 in our Portuguese list, against #38,846 for "parir". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering parar vs parir

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “parar” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable