perdavspernaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,548
“perda” frequency rank
#3,098
“perna” frequency rank
4646
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perda perna
Definition ato de perder um dos membros posteriores humanos

Where the eye mixes perda and perna

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

5 ch
perda
5 ch
perna

Why the eye confuses perda with perna

A purely visual mix-up. perda (/ˈpeɾ.dɐ/) and perna (/ˈpɛrnɜ/) 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 a single letter - d in “perda” becomes n in “perna”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4646, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perda is recorded at frequency rank #1,548, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpeɾ.dɐ/. perna is at rank #3,098, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛrnɜ/.

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 4646, this pair ranks #70,183 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of perda vs perna

Shared letters: aepr. Private to "perda": d. Private to "perna": n.

"perda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "perna" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perdaeprda · perad · perdda · perrda · pperda · preda
  • pernaeprna · penra · peran · pernna · perrna · pperna · prena

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "perda" for "perna" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpeɾ.dɐ/ versus /ˈpɛrnɜ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "perda" or "perna"?
"perda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,548 in our Portuguese list, against #3,098 for "perna". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "perda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perna" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,183 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perda" and "perna" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perna vs pernil". 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 #70,183 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