persavspersonWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: persa is a adjective, person is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#7,813
“persa” frequency rank
#24,105
“person” frequency rank
31918
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature persa person
Definition da Pérsia antiga pessoa

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set persa and person apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
persa
6 ch
person

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: persa is /ˈpɛɾ.sə/ while person is /ˈpøːsən/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31918, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

persa is recorded at frequency rank #7,813, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɛɾ.sə/. person is at rank #24,105, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpøːsən/.

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 31918, this pair ranks #36,024 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of persa vs person

Shared letters: eprs. Private to "persa": a. Private to "person": no.

"persa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "person" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • persaeprsa · peras · perrsa · pesra · ppersa
  • personeprson · perosn · perrson · persno · personn · persson · pesron · pperson

Frequency comparison

persa#7,813
person#24,105

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "persa" and "person" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "persa" is an adjective and "person" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "persa" or "person"?
"persa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,813 in our Portuguese list, against #24,105 for "person". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering persa vs person

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list