parravspersaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: parra is a noun, persa is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“parra” is a noun and “persa” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,076
“parra” frequency rank
#7,813
“persa” frequency rank
36889
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature parra persa
Definition ramo novo da videira da Pérsia antiga

Where the eye mixes parra and persa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
parra
5 ch
persa

Why the eye confuses parra with persa

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: parra is /ˈpa.Rɐ/ while persa is /ˈpɛɾ.sə/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36889, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

parra is recorded at frequency rank #29,076, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpa.Rɐ/. persa is at rank #7,813, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɛɾ.sə/.

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 36889, this pair ranks #29,834 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of parra vs persa

Shared letters: apr. Private to "parra": -. Private to "persa": es.

"parra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "persa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • parraaprra · pparra · prara
  • persaeprsa · peras · perrsa · pesra · ppersa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "parra" for "persa" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "parra" is a noun and "persa" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "parra" or "persa"?
"persa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,813 in our Portuguese list, against #29,076 for "parra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "parra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "persa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #29,834 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "parra" and "persa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pança vs parra". 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 #29,834 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