Which to use
“pesar” is a noun and “pirar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,088
- “pesar” frequency rank
- #24,423
- “pirar” frequency rank
- 33511
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pesar | pirar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | condolência | endoidar |
Where the eye mixes pesar and pirar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pesar and pirar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: pesar vs pirar
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pesar is /pɨ.ˈzaɾ/ while pirar is /pi.ˈɾaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33511, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pesar is recorded at frequency rank #9,088, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɨ.ˈzaɾ/. pirar is at rank #24,423, tagged as averb, pronounced /pi.ˈɾaɾ/.
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 33511, this pair ranks #33,991 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pesar vs pirar
Shared letters: apr. Private to "pesar": es. Private to "pirar": i.
"pesar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "pirar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pesar" for "pirar" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "pesar" or "pirar" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "pesar" and "pirar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pesar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pirar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #33,991 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pesar" and "pirar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pilão vs pirar". 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 #33,991 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.