perfectvsperfeitoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,745
“perfect” frequency rank
#1,127
“perfeito” frequency rank
13872
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perfect perfeito
Definition perfeito que se conforma completamente com a descrição ou definição de um tipo ideal

Where the eye mixes perfect and perfeito

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. perfect runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against perfeito's 8 (CVCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
perfect
8 ch
perfeito

Why the eye confuses perfect with perfeito

A purely visual mix-up. perfect (/ˈpɜː.fɪkt/; /ˈpɜː.fɛkt/) and perfeito (/pɨɾ.ˈfɐj.tu/) 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 13872, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perfect is recorded at frequency rank #12,745, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɜː.fɪkt/; /ˈpɜː.fɛkt/. perfeito is at rank #1,127, tagged as anadj, pronounced /pɨɾ.ˈfɐj.tu/.

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 13872, this pair ranks #58,343 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of perfect vs perfeito

Shared letters: efprt. Private to "perfect": c. Private to "perfeito": io.

"perfect" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "perfeito" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • perfect ← eprfect · pefrect · perefct · perfcet · perfecct · perfectt · perfetc · perffect
  • perfeito ← eprfeito · pefreito · perefito · perfeiot · perfeitto · perfetio · perffeito · perfieto

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "perfect" and "perfeito" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpɜː.fɪkt/; /ˈpɜː.fɛkt/ versus /pɨɾ.ˈfɐj.tu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "perfect" vs "perfeito" - which ranks higher?
"perfeito" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,127 in our Portuguese list, against #12,745 for "perfect". 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 "perfect" and "perfeito" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "perfect" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "perfeito" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,343 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perfect" and "perfeito" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perfeição vs perfeito". 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 #58,343 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