pecadovspradoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,926
“pecado” frequency rank
#8,941
“prado” frequency rank
12867
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pecado prado
Definition transgressão de um preceito religioso terreno coberto de plantas herbáceas para alimento do gado

Where the eye mixes pecado and prado

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

6 ch
pecado
5 ch
prado

Why the eye confuses pecado with prado

A purely visual mix-up. pecado (/pɨ.ˈka.du/) and prado (/ˈpɾa.du/) 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 12867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pecado is recorded at frequency rank #3,926, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɨ.ˈka.du/. prado is at rank #8,941, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɾa.du/.

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 12867, this pair ranks #59,602 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pecado vs prado

Shared letters: adop. Private to "pecado": ce. Private to "prado": r.

"pecado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "prado" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pecadoepcado · pceado · peacdo · pecaddo · pecaod · peccado · pecdao · ppecado
  • pradopardo · pprado · praddo · praod · prdao · prrado · rpado

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pecado" and "prado" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/pɨ.ˈka.du/ versus /ˈpɾa.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pecado" vs "prado" - which ranks higher?
"pecado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,926 in our Portuguese list, against #8,941 for "prado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pecado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #59,602 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pecado" and "prado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prado vs prelado". 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 #59,602 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