perdãovsperigoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,278
“perdão” frequency rank
#1,902
“perigo” frequency rank
5180
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perdão perigo
Definition fim de uma exigência uma situação de ameaça

Where the eye mixes perdão and perigo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. perdão (CVCCVV) and perigo (CVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
perdão
6 ch
perigo

Visual trap between perdão and perigo

A purely visual mix-up. perdão (/pɨɾ.ˈdɐ̃w̃/) and perigo (/pɨ.ˈɾi.ɡu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5180, 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/. perigo is at rank #1,902, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɨ.ˈɾi.ɡu/.

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 5180, this pair ranks #69,508 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of perdão vs perigo

Shared letters: eopr. Private to "perdão": . Private to "perigo": gi.

"perdão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "perigo" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perigoeprigo · peirgo · pergio · periggo · periog · perrigo · pperigo · preigo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "perdão" for "perigo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/pɨɾ.ˈdɐ̃w̃/ versus /pɨ.ˈɾi.ɡu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "perdão" or "perigo"?
"perigo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,902 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.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "perdão" and "perigo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "perdão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perigo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #69,508 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perdão" and "perigo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perigo vs périplo". 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 #69,508 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