pautarvspousarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,712
“pautar” frequency rank
#17,362
“pousar” frequency rank
46074
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pautar pousar
Definition fazer pautas, traçar linhas em uma folha de papel colocar algo em cima de uma superfície

Where the eye mixes pautar and pousar

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

6 ch
pautar
6 ch
pousar

Look-alike desk: pautar vs pousar

A purely visual mix-up. pautar (/paw.ˈtaɾ/) and pousar (/pow.ˈzaɾ/) 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 46074, 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/. pousar is at rank #17,362, tagged as averb, pronounced /pow.ˈzaɾ/.

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 46074, this pair ranks #19,281 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pautar vs pousar

Shared letters: apru. Private to "pautar": t. Private to "pousar": os.

"pautar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "pousar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pautaraputar · patuar · pauatr · pautarr · pautra · pauttar · ppautar · puatar
  • pousaropusar · posuar · pouasr · pousarr · pousra · poussar · ppousar · puosar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pautar" and "pousar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/paw.ˈtaɾ/ versus /pow.ˈzaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pautar" or "pousar"?
"pousar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,362 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.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pautar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pousar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,281 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pautar" and "pousar" 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 #19,281 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