patavsputWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#15,417
“pata” frequency rank
#18,961
“put” frequency rank
34378
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pata put
Definition a fêmea do pato pôr, colocar

Where the eye mixes pata and put

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
pata
3 ch
put

Why the eye confuses pata with put

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pata is /ˈpa.tɐ/ while put is /pʊt/. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34378, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pata is recorded at frequency rank #15,417, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpa.tɐ/. put is at rank #18,961, tagged as averb, pronounced /pʊt/.

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 34378, this pair ranks #32,902 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pata vs put

Shared letters: pt. Private to "pata": a. Private to "put": u.

"pata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "put" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pataapta · paat · patta · ppata · ptaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pata" and "put" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pata" is a noun and "put" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "pata" or "put" show up more?
"pata" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,417 in our Portuguese list, against #18,961 for "put". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pata" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "put" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,902 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pata" and "put" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pix vs put". 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 #32,902 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