perecervspertencerTell them apart

Which to use

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

#45,989
“perecer” frequency rank
#10,584
“pertencer” frequency rank
56573
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perecer pertencer
Definition deixar de ser ou de existir ser propriedade de alguém

Where the eye mixes perecer and pertencer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. perecer runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against pertencer's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
perecer
9 ch
pertencer

Why the eye confuses perecer with pertencer

A purely visual mix-up. perecer (/pɨ.ɾɨ.ˈseɾ/) and pertencer (/pɨɾ.tẽ.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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56573, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perecer is recorded at frequency rank #45,989, classified as averb, pronounced /pɨ.ɾɨ.ˈseɾ/. pertencer is at rank #10,584, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɨɾ.tẽ.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 56573, this pair ranks #9,881 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of perecer vs pertencer

Shared letters: cepr. Private to "perecer": -. Private to "pertencer": nt.

"perecer" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "pertencer" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perecer ← eprecer · peercer · perceer · pereccer · perecerr · perecre · pereecr · perrecer
  • pertencer ← eprtencer · peretncer · perrtencer · pertecner · pertenccer · pertencerr · pertencre · pertenecr

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "perecer" for "pertencer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/pɨ.ɾɨ.ˈseɾ/ versus /pɨɾ.tẽ.ˈseɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "perecer" or "pertencer" show up more?
"pertencer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,584 in our Portuguese list, against #45,989 for "perecer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "perecer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pertencer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,881 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perecer" and "pertencer" 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 #9,881 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