pastarvspistãoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pastar is a verb, pistão is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#48,580
“pastar” frequency rank
#26,846
“pistão” frequency rank
75426
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pastar pistão
Definition comer a erva de peça cilíndrica normalmente feita de alumínio ou liga de alumínio, que se move longitudinalmente no interior do cilindro dos motores de explosão

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
pastar
6 ch
pistão

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pastar is /pɐʃ.ˈtaɾ/ while pistão is /piʃ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75426, 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/. pistão is at rank #26,846, tagged as anoun, pronounced /piʃ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/.

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 75426, this pair ranks #2,299 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pastar vs pistão

Shared letters: pst. Private to "pastar": ar. Private to "pistão": ioã.

"pastar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "pistão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pastarapstar · pasatr · passtar · pastarr · pastra · pasttar · patsar · ppastar

Frequency comparison

pastar#48,580
pistão#26,846

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pastar" and "pistão" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pastar" is a verb and "pistão" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pastar" or "pistão"?
"pistão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,846 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 pistão

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “pastar”; for a noun, it's “pistão”.
  • 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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list