passivovspéssimoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,807
“passivo” frequency rank
#4,947
“péssimo” frequency rank
18754
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature passivo péssimo
Definition diz-se daquele (ou daquilo) que sofre uma ação ou recebe seu efeito muito mau, ruim

Where the eye mixes passivo and péssimo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. passivo and péssimo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
passivo
7 ch
péssimo

Visual trap between passivo and péssimo

A purely visual mix-up. passivo (/pa.ˈsi.vu/ ouvir ^(fonte ?)) and péssimo (/ˈpɛ.si.mu/) 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 18754, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

passivo is recorded at frequency rank #13,807, classified as anadj, pronounced /pa.ˈsi.vu/ ouvir ^(fonte ?). péssimo is at rank #4,947, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɛ.si.mu/.

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 18754, this pair ranks #52,148 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of passivo vs péssimo

Shared letters: iops. Private to "passivo": av. Private to "péssimo": mé.

"passivo" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "péssimo" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • passivo ← apssivo · pasisvo · pasivo · passiov · passivvo · passvio · ppassivo · psasivo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "passivo" for "péssimo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/pa.ˈsi.vu/ ouvir ^(fonte ?) versus /ˈpɛ.si.mu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "passivo" vs "péssimo" - which ranks higher?
"péssimo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,947 in our Portuguese list, against #13,807 for "passivo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "passivo" and "péssimo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "passivo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "péssimo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #52,148 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "passivo" and "péssimo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "passível vs passivo". 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 #52,148 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