partir vs pátio, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#298
“partir” frequency rank: #5,990
“pátio” frequency rank: 6288
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	partir	pátio
Definition	dividir em partes	recinto descoberto no interior de uma casa

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set partir and pátio apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

partir

5 ch

pátio

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: partir is /pɐɾ.ˈtiɾ/ while pátio is /ˈpa.tju/. 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 6288, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

partir is recorded at frequency rank #298, classified as averb, pronounced /pɐɾ.ˈtiɾ/. pátio is at rank #5,990, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpa.tju/.

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 6288, this pair ranks #68,168 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of partir vs pátio

Shared letters: ipt. Private to "partir": ar. Private to "pátio": oá.

"partir" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "pátio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

partir ← aprtir · paritr · parrtir · partirr · partri · parttir · patrir · ppartir

Frequency comparison

partir#298

pátio#5,990

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "partir" and "pátio" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "partir" is a verb and "pátio" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "partir" or "pátio"?

"partir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #298 in our Portuguese list, against #5,990 for "pátio". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering partir vs pátio

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “partir”; for a noun, it's “pátio”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “partir” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable