pesvspesarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“pes” and “pesar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#23,445
“pes” frequency rank
#9,088
“pesar” frequency rank
32533
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pes pesar
Definition cão condolência

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pes and pesar apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
pes
5 ch
pesar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pes (/ˈpɛs ouvir^(fonte ?)) and pesar (/pɨ.ˈzaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “pes” sits inside “pesar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32533, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pes is recorded at frequency rank #23,445, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛs ouvir^(fonte ?). pesar is at rank #9,088, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɨ.ˈzaɾ/.

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 32533, this pair ranks #35,244 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pes vs pesar

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

"pes" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "pesar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pesarepsar · peasr · pesarr · pessar · ppesar · psear

Frequency comparison

pes#23,445
pesar#9,088

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pes" and "pesar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpɛs ouvir^(fonte ?) versus /pɨ.ˈzaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pes" or "pesar"?
"pesar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,088 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.

Remembering pes vs pesar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pes” 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