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 eye mixes perto and puerta
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. perto runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against puerta's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses perto with puerta
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
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "perto" and "puerta" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "perto" or "puerta" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "perto" and "puerta" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "perto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "puerta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #25,799 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "perto" and "puerta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pera vs puerta". 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 #25,799 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.