Which to use
“passar” and “pousar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #380
- “passar” frequency rank
- #17,362
- “pousar” frequency rank
- 17742
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passar | pousar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | percorrer, atravessar | colocar algo em cima de uma superfície |
Where the eye mixes passar and pousar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: passar vs pousar
A purely visual mix-up. passar (/pɐ.ˈsaɾ/) and pousar (/pow.ˈzaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17742, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passar is recorded at frequency rank #380, classified as averb, pronounced /pɐ.ˈsaɾ/. pousar is at rank #17,362, tagged as averb, pronounced /pow.ˈzaɾ/.
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 17742, this pair ranks #53,433 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of passar vs pousar
Shared letters: aprs. Private to "passar": -. Private to "pousar": ou.
"passar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "pousar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "passar" for "pousar" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "passar" or "pousar" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "passar" and "pousar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "passar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pousar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #53,433 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passar" and "pousar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pousar vs pulsar". 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 #53,433 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.