Which to use
“pautar” and “pintar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,712
- “pautar” frequency rank
- #5,877
- “pintar” frequency rank
- 34589
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pautar | pintar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | fazer pautas, traçar linhas em uma folha de papel | aplicar substância de uma cor numa superfície de outra, para mudar a cor da superfície |
Where the eye mixes pautar and pintar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pautar (CVVCVC) and pintar (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses pautar with pintar
A purely visual mix-up. pautar (/paw.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 34589, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pautar is recorded at frequency rank #28,712, classified as averb, pronounced /paw.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 34589, this pair ranks #32,637 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pautar vs pintar
Shared letters: aprt. Private to "pautar": u. Private to "pintar": in.
"pautar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "pintar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pautar" for "pintar" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pautar" vs "pintar" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pautar" and "pintar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pautar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pintar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #32,637 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pautar" and "pintar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pastar vs pautar". 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 #32,637 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.