perdido vs período, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“perdido” is an adjective and “período” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,061
“perdido” frequency rank: #540
“período” frequency rank: 2601
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	perdido	período
Definition	extraviado	intervalo de tempo decorrido entre dois momentos, acontecimentos ou datas

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set perdido and período apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

perdido

7 ch

período

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: perdido is /pɨɾ.ˈdi.du/ while período is [p(ɨ)ɾi'uðu] (nunca de acordo com a grafia: [p(ɨ)'ɾiwðu]). 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2601, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perdido is recorded at frequency rank #2,061, classified as anadj, pronounced /pɨɾ.ˈdi.du/. período is at rank #540, tagged as anoun, pronounced [p(ɨ)ɾi'uðu] (nunca de acordo com a grafia: [p(ɨ)'ɾiwðu]).

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 2601, this pair ranks #72,736 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of perdido vs período

Shared letters: deopr. Private to "perdido": i. Private to "período": í.

"perdido" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "período" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

perdido ← eprdido · pedrido · perddido · perddio · perdiddo · perdiod · periddo · perrdido

Frequency comparison

perdido#2,061

período#540

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "perdido" and "período" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "perdido" is an adjective and "período" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "perdido" or "período"?

"período" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #540 in our Portuguese list, against #2,061 for "perdido". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering perdido vs período

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “perdido”; for a noun, it's “período”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “perdido” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable