pautarvspouparConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#28,712
“pautar” frequency rank
#9,090
“poupar” frequency rank
37802
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pautar poupar
Definition fazer pautas, traçar linhas em uma folha de papel evitar despesas

Where the eye mixes pautar and poupar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
pautar
6 ch
poupar

Why the eye confuses pautar with poupar

A purely visual mix-up. pautar (/paw.ˈtaɾ/) and poupar (/pow.ˈpaɾ/) 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 37802, 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/. poupar is at rank #9,090, tagged as averb, pronounced /pow.ˈpaɾ/.

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 37802, this pair ranks #28,767 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pautar vs poupar

Shared letters: apru. Private to "pautar": t. Private to "poupar": o.

"pautar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "poupar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pautaraputar · patuar · pauatr · pautarr · pautra · pauttar · ppautar · puatar
  • pouparopupar · popuar · pouapr · pouparr · pouppar · poupra · ppoupar · puopar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pautar" and "poupar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/paw.ˈtaɾ/ versus /pow.ˈpaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pautar" or "poupar"?
"poupar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,090 in our Portuguese list, against #28,712 for "pautar". 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 "pautar" and "poupar" 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 "poupar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,767 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pautar" and "poupar" 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 #28,767 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