Which to use
“persa” is an adjective and “presa” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,813
- “persa” frequency rank
- #3,165
- “presa” frequency rank
- 10978
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | persa | presa |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | da Pérsia antiga | ato de apresar ou de apreender ao inimigo coisas que servem para transportar ou são transportadas |
Where the eye mixes persa and presa
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between persa and presa
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: persa is /ˈpɛɾ.sə/ while presa is /ˈpɾe.zɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ only by swapping two adjacent letters (er ↔ re) - a transposition the eye reads straight past, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10978, 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/. presa is at rank #3,165, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɾe.zɐ/.
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 10978, this pair ranks #61,978 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of persa vs presa
Shared letters: aeprs. Private to "persa": -. Private to "presa": -.
"persa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "presa" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "persa" and "presa" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "persa" or "presa" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "persa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "presa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #61,978 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "persa" and "presa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "presa vs priest". 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 #61,978 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.