perdavspertoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: perda is a noun, perto is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“perda” is a noun and “perto” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,548
“perda” frequency rank
#509
“perto” frequency rank
2057
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perda perto
Definition ato de perder a pouca distância

Where the eye mixes perda and perto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
perda
5 ch
perto

Look-alike desk: perda vs perto

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: perda is /ˈpeɾ.dɐ/ while perto is /ˈpɛh.tʊ/, /ˈpɛr.tʊ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2057, 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/. perto is at rank #509, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈpɛh.tʊ/, /ˈpɛr.tʊ/.

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 2057, this pair ranks #73,433 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of perda vs perto

Shared letters: epr. Private to "perda": ad. Private to "perto": ot.

"perda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "perto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perdaeprda · perad · perdda · perrda · pperda · preda
  • pertoeprto · perot · perrto · pertto · pperto

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "perda" for "perto" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "perda" is a noun and "perto" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "perda" or "perto" show up more?
"perto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #509 in our Portuguese list, against #1,548 for "perda". 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 "perto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #73,433 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perda" and "perto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perto vs Pluto". 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 #73,433 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