Which to use
“pensão” is a noun and “persa” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,560
- “pensão” frequency rank
- #7,813
- “persa” frequency rank
- 15373
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pensão | persa |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pagamento mensal, em um determinado prazo, onde uma pessoa paga outra | da Pérsia antiga |
Where the eye mixes pensão and persa
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pensão runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against persa's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: pensão vs persa
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pensão is /pẽ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ while persa is /ˈpɛɾ.sə/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15373, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pensão is recorded at frequency rank #7,560, classified as anoun, pronounced /pẽ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. persa is at rank #7,813, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɛɾ.sə/.
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 15373, this pair ranks #56,454 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pensão vs persa
Shared letters: eps. Private to "pensão": noã. Private to "persa": ar.
"pensão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "persa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- persa ← eprsa · peras · perrsa · pesra · ppersa
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pensão" and "persa" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "pensão" or "persa"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "pensão" and "persa" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pensão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "persa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #56,454 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pensão" and "persa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pedrão vs pensão". 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 #56,454 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.