parecido vs preciso, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#4,574
“parecido” frequency rank: #252
“preciso” frequency rank: 4826
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	parecido	preciso
Definition	que se parece; semelhante	necessário, importante:

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set parecido and preciso apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch

parecido

7 ch

preciso

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. parecido (/pɐ.ɾɨ.ˈsi.du/) and preciso (/pɾɨ.ˈsi.zu/) 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 4826, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

parecido is recorded at frequency rank #4,574, classified as anadj, pronounced /pɐ.ɾɨ.ˈsi.du/. preciso is at rank #252, tagged as anadj, pronounced /pɾɨ.ˈsi.zu/.

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 4826, this pair ranks #69,948 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of parecido vs preciso

Shared letters: ceiopr. Private to "parecido": ad. Private to "preciso": s.

"parecido" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV · "preciso" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

parecido ← aprecido · paercido · parceido · pareccido · parecdio · pareciddo · pareciod · pareicdo
preciso ← perciso · ppreciso · prceiso · precciso · precios · precisso · precsio · preicso

Frequency comparison

parecido#4,574

preciso#252

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "parecido" and "preciso" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/pɐ.ɾɨ.ˈsi.du/ versus /pɾɨ.ˈsi.zu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "parecido" or "preciso"?

"preciso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #252 in our Portuguese list, against #4,574 for "parecido". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering parecido vs preciso

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 “parecido” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable