perdãovsperderWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: perdão is a noun, perder is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“perdão” is a noun and “perder” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,278
“perdão” frequency rank
#704
“perder” frequency rank
3982
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perdão perder
Definition fim de uma exigência deixar de possuir um objeto ou bem material

Where the eye mixes perdão and perder

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

6 ch
perdão
6 ch
perder

Look-alike desk: perdão vs perder

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: perdão is /pɨɾ.ˈdɐ̃w̃/ while perder is /pɨɾ.ˈdeɾ/. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3982, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perdão is recorded at frequency rank #3,278, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɨɾ.ˈdɐ̃w̃/. perder is at rank #704, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɨɾ.ˈdeɾ/.

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 3982, this pair ranks #71,067 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of perdão vs perder

Shared letters: depr. Private to "perdão": . Private to "perder": -.

"perdão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "perder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perdereprder · pedrer · perdder · perderr · perdre · peredr · perrder · pperder

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "perdão" and "perder" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "perdão" is a noun and "perder" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "perdão" or "perder"?
"perder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #704 in our Portuguese list, against #3,278 for "perdão". 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 "perdão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perder" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #71,067 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perdão" and "perder" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perder vs perecer". 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 #71,067 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