pastar vs pintar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#48,580
“pastar” frequency rank: #5,877
“pintar” frequency rank: 54457
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	pastar	pintar
Definition	comer a erva de	aplicar substância de uma cor numa superfície de outra, para mudar a cor da superfície

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pastar and pintar apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

pastar

6 ch

pintar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pastar (/pɐʃ.ˈtaɾ/) and pintar (/pĩ.ˈtaɾ/) 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 54457, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pastar is recorded at frequency rank #48,580, classified as averb, pronounced /pɐʃ.ˈtaɾ/. pintar is at rank #5,877, tagged as averb, pronounced /pĩ.ˈtaɾ/.

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 54457, this pair ranks #11,246 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pastar vs pintar

Shared letters: aprt. Private to "pastar": s. Private to "pintar": in.

"pastar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "pintar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

pastar ← apstar · pasatr · passtar · pastarr · pastra · pasttar · patsar · ppastar
pintar ← ipntar · pinatr · pinntar · pintarr · pintra · pinttar · pitnar · pnitar

Frequency comparison

pastar#48,580

pintar#5,877

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pastar" and "pintar" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/pɐʃ.ˈtaɾ/ versus /pĩ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "pastar" or "pintar"?

"pintar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,877 in our Portuguese list, against #48,580 for "pastar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pastar vs pintar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pastar” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable