Which to use
“perdão” is a noun and “pero” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,278
- “perdão” frequency rank
- #17,884
- “pero” frequency rank
- 21162
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | perdão | pero |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | fim de uma exigência | mas, porém |
Where the eye mixes perdão and pero
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between perdão and pero
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: perdão is /pɨɾ.ˈdɐ̃w̃/ while pero is /ˈpe.ɾu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs conjunction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21162, 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/. pero is at rank #17,884, tagged as aconj, pronounced /ˈpe.ɾu/.
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 21162, this pair ranks #49,183 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of perdão vs pero
Shared letters: eopr. Private to "perdão": dã. Private to "pero": -.
"perdão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "pero" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pero ← epro · peor · perro · ppero · preo
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "perdão" for "pero" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "perdão" or "pero" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "perdão" and "pero" 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 "pero" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,183 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perdão" and "pero" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pero vs pomo". 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 #49,183 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.