perdervsperecerConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#704
“perder” frequency rank
#45,989
“perecer” frequency rank
46693
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perder perecer
Definition deixar de possuir um objeto ou bem material deixar de ser ou de existir

Where the eye mixes perder and perecer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. perder runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against perecer's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
perder
7 ch
perecer

Look-alike desk: perder vs perecer

A purely visual mix-up. perder (/pɨɾ.ˈdeɾ/) and perecer (/pɨ.ɾɨ.ˈseɾ/) 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 46693, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perder is recorded at frequency rank #704, classified as averb, pronounced /pɨɾ.ˈdeɾ/. perecer is at rank #45,989, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɨ.ɾɨ.ˈseɾ/.

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 46693, this pair ranks #18,616 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of perder vs perecer

Shared letters: epr. Private to "perder": d. Private to "perecer": c.

"perder" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "perecer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perder ← eprder · pedrer · perdder · perderr · perdre · peredr · perrder · pperder
  • perecer ← eprecer · peercer · perceer · pereccer · perecerr · perecre · pereecr · perrecer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "perder" and "perecer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/pɨɾ.ˈdeɾ/ versus /pɨ.ɾɨ.ˈseɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "perder" or "perecer" show up more?
"perder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #704 in our Portuguese list, against #45,989 for "perecer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "perder" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perecer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,616 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perder" and "perecer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perecer vs perene". 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 #18,616 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