pariuvspátriaTell them apart

Quick tell: pariu is a verb, pátria is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pariu” is a verb and “pátria” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,578
“pariu” frequency rank
#5,991
“pátria” frequency rank
22569
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pariu pátria
Definition terceira pessoa do singular do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo parir país em que nascemos

Where the eye mixes pariu and pátria

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pariu runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against pátria's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
pariu
6 ch
pátria

Why the eye confuses pariu with pátria

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pariu is /pɐ.ˈɾiw/ while pátria is /ˈpa.tɾjɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22569, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pariu is recorded at frequency rank #16,578, classified as averb, pronounced /pɐ.ˈɾiw/. pátria is at rank #5,991, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpa.tɾjɐ/.

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 22569, this pair ranks #47,456 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pariu vs pátria

Shared letters: aipr. Private to "pariu": u. Private to "pátria": tá.

"pariu" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "pátria" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pariu ← apriu · pairu · parriu · parui · ppariu · praiu

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pariu" for "pátria" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pariu" is a verb and "pátria" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "pariu" or "pátria" show up more?
"pátria" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,991 in our Portuguese list, against #16,578 for "pariu". 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 "pariu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pátria" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #47,456 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pariu" and "pátria" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pariu vs pavio". 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 #47,456 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