parar vs pastar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#656
“parar” frequency rank: #48,580
“pastar” frequency rank: 49236
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	parar	pastar
Definition	interromper um movimento ou uma ação	comer a erva de

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch

parar

6 ch

pastar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. parar (/pɐ.ˈɾaɾ/, /pɐ.ˈɾa/) and pastar (/pɐʃ.ˈtaɾ/) 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 49236, 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/. pastar is at rank #48,580, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɐʃ.ˈtaɾ/.

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 49236, this pair ranks #15,813 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of parar vs pastar

Shared letters: apr. Private to "parar": -. Private to "pastar": st.

"parar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "pastar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

parar ← aprar · paarr · pararr · parrar · pparar · praar
pastar ← apstar · pasatr · passtar · pastarr · pastra · pasttar · patsar · ppastar

Frequency comparison

parar#656

pastar#48,580

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"parar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #656 in our Portuguese list, against #48,580 for "pastar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering parar vs pastar

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