Which to use
“pecar” and “pirar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,725
- “pecar” frequency rank
- #24,423
- “pirar” frequency rank
- 57148
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pecar | pirar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cometer pecado | endoidar |
Where the eye mixes pecar and pirar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pecar and pirar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: pecar vs pirar
A purely visual mix-up. pecar (/pɨ.ˈkaɾ/) and pirar (/pi.ˈɾaɾ/) 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 57148, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pecar is recorded at frequency rank #32,725, classified as averb, pronounced /pɨ.ˈkaɾ/. pirar is at rank #24,423, tagged as averb, pronounced /pi.ˈɾaɾ/.
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 57148, this pair ranks #9,511 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pecar vs pirar
Shared letters: apr. Private to "pecar": ce. Private to "pirar": i.
"pecar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "pirar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pecar" and "pirar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "pecar" or "pirar" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pecar" and "pirar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pecar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pirar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #9,511 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pecar" and "pirar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pacas vs pecar". 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 #9,511 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.