perovspreçoConfusable pair

Quick tell: pero is a conjunction, preço is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pero” is a conjunction and “preço” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,884
“pero” frequency rank
#996
“preço” frequency rank
18880
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pero preço
Definition mas, porém custo unitário de qualquer coisa que possa ser vendida

Where the eye mixes pero and preço

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pero runs 4 letters (CVCV) against preço's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
pero
5 ch
preço

Look-alike desk: pero vs preço

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pero is /ˈpe.ɾu/ while preço is /ˈpɾe.su/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (conjunction vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18880, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pero is recorded at frequency rank #17,884, classified as aconj, pronounced /ˈpe.ɾu/. preço is at rank #996, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɾe.su/.

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 18880, this pair ranks #51,995 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pero vs preço

Shared letters: eopr. Private to "pero": -. Private to "preço": ç.

"pero" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "preço" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pero ← epro · peor · perro · ppero · preo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pero" for "preço" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pero" is a conjunction and "preço" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "pero" or "preço" show up more?
"preço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #996 in our Portuguese list, against #17,884 for "pero". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pero" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "preço" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,995 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pero" and "preço" 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 #51,995 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