Which to use
“pecar” and “puxar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,725
- “pecar” frequency rank
- #5,884
- “puxar” frequency rank
- 38609
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pecar | puxar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cometer pecado | atrair a si com força |
Where the eye mixes pecar and puxar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pecar and puxar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between pecar and puxar
A purely visual mix-up. pecar (/pɨ.ˈkaɾ/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38609, 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/. 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 38609, this pair ranks #27,802 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pecar vs puxar
Shared letters: apr. Private to "pecar": ce. Private to "puxar": ux.
"pecar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "puxar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pecar" for "puxar" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pecar" vs "puxar" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pecar" 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 #27,802 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pecar" and "puxar" 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 #27,802 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.