persavspesWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#7,813
“persa” frequency rank
#23,445
“pes” frequency rank
31258
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature persa pes
Definition da Pérsia antiga cão

Where the eye mixes persa and pes

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

5 ch
persa
3 ch
pes

Visual trap between persa and pes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: persa is /ˈpɛɾ.sə/ while pes is /ˈpɛs ouvir^(fonte ?). Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 31258, 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/. pes is at rank #23,445, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛs ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 31258, this pair ranks #36,884 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of persa vs pes

Shared letters: eps. Private to "persa": ar. Private to "pes": -.

"persa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pes" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • persa ← eprsa · peras · perrsa · pesra · ppersa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "persa" for "pes" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "persa" is an adjective and "pes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "persa" or "pes"?
"persa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,813 in our Portuguese list, against #23,445 for "pes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "persa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #36,884 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "persa" and "pes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pes vs pix". 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 #36,884 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