perdavsperucaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,548
“perda” frequency rank
#17,349
“peruca” frequency rank
18897
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perda peruca
Definition ato de perder cabeleira postiça

Where the eye mixes perda and peruca

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

5 ch
perda
6 ch
peruca

Look-alike desk: perda vs peruca

A purely visual mix-up. perda (/ˈpeɾ.dɐ/) and peruca (/pɨ.ˈɾu.kɐ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18897, 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/. peruca is at rank #17,349, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɨ.ˈɾu.kɐ/.

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 18897, this pair ranks #51,979 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of perda vs peruca

Shared letters: aepr. Private to "perda": d. Private to "peruca": cu.

"perda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "peruca" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perdaeprda · perad · perdda · perrda · pperda · preda
  • perucaepruca · percua · perruca · peruac · perucca · peurca · pperuca · preuca

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "perda" and "peruca" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpeɾ.dɐ/ versus /pɨ.ˈɾu.kɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "perda" or "peruca"?
"perda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,548 in our Portuguese list, against #17,349 for "peruca". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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 "peruca" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,979 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perda" and "peruca" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "permuta vs peruca". 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 #51,979 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