pautarvspuxarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#28,712
“pautar” frequency rank
#5,884
“puxar” frequency rank
34596
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pautar puxar
Definition fazer pautas, traçar linhas em uma folha de papel atrair a si com força

Where the eye mixes pautar and puxar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pautar runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against puxar's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
pautar
5 ch
puxar

Look-alike desk: pautar vs puxar

A purely visual mix-up. pautar (/paw.ˈtaɾ/) and puxar (/pu.ˈʃaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34596, 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/. puxar is at rank #5,884, tagged as averb, pronounced /pu.ˈʃaɾ/.

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 34596, this pair ranks #32,626 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pautar vs puxar

Shared letters: apru. Private to "pautar": t. Private to "puxar": x.

"pautar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "puxar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pautar ← aputar · patuar · pauatr · pautarr · pautra · pauttar · ppautar · puatar
  • puxar ← ppuxar · puaxr · puxarr · puxra · puxxar · pxuar · upxar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pautar" and "puxar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/paw.ˈtaɾ/ versus /pu.ˈʃaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pautar" or "puxar"?
"puxar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,884 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 "puxar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,626 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pautar" and "puxar" 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 #32,626 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