pertovspuertaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: perto is a adverb, puerta is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“perto” is an adverb and “puerta” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#509
“perto” frequency rank
#39,817
“puerta” frequency rank
40326
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perto puerta
Definition a pouca distância porta

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
perto
6 ch
puerta

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: perto is /ˈpɛh.tʊ/, /ˈpɛr.tʊ/ while puerta is /ˈpweɾ.ta/. 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40326, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perto is recorded at frequency rank #509, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈpɛh.tʊ/, /ˈpɛr.tʊ/. puerta is at rank #39,817, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpweɾ.ta/.

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 40326, this pair ranks #25,799 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of perto vs puerta

Shared letters: eprt. Private to "perto": o. Private to "puerta": au.

"perto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "puerta" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pertoeprto · perot · perrto · pertto · pperto
  • puertapeurta · ppuerta · puerat · puerrta · puertta · puetra · pureta · uperta

Frequency comparison

perto#509
puerta#39,817

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "perto" and "puerta" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "perto" is an adverb and "puerta" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "perto" or "puerta"?
"perto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #509 in our Portuguese list, against #39,817 for "puerta". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering perto vs puerta

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “perto”; for a noun, it's “puerta”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “perto” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list