pesarvsprestarConfusable pair

Quick tell: pesar is a noun, prestar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pesar” is a noun and “prestar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,088
“pesar” frequency rank
#3,793
“prestar” frequency rank
12881
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pesar prestar
Definition condolência dedicar; dar com profunda afeição

Letter map: pesar vs prestar

Shared letters muted; letters that set pesar and prestar apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. pesar runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against prestar's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
pesar
7 ch
prestar

Grammar separator: pesar vs prestar

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: pesar is anoun and prestaraverb. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12881, 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/. prestar is at rank #3,793, tagged as averb.

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 12881, this pair ranks #59,585 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pesar vs prestar

Shared letters: aeprs. Private to "pesar": -. Private to "prestar": t.

"pesar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "prestar" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pesar ← epsar · peasr · pesarr · pessar · ppesar · psear
  • prestar ← perstar · pprestar · presatr · presstar · prestarr · prestra · presttar · pretsar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pesar" and "prestar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pesar" is a noun and "prestar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pesar" or "prestar"?
"prestar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,793 in our Portuguese list, against #9,088 for "pesar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "pesar" and "prestar". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pesar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prestar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #59,585 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pesar" and "prestar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pastar vs pesar". 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 #59,585 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list