pestevsPrestesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,061
“peste” frequency rank
#4,099
“Prestes” frequency rank
14160
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature peste Prestes
Definition epidemia grave sobrenome comum em português

Letter map: peste vs Prestes

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

5 ch
peste
7 ch
Prestes

Corpus notes: peste and Prestes

peste and Prestes are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

peste is recorded at frequency rank #10,061, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛʃ.tɨ/. Prestes is at rank #4,099, tagged as anoun.

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 14160, this pair ranks #58,010 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of peste vs Prestes

Shared letters: epst. Private to "peste": -. Private to "Prestes": r.

"peste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Prestes" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • peste ← epste · peset · pesste · pestte · petse · ppeste · psete
  • Prestes ← perstes · pprestes · presets · presstes · prestess · prestse · presttes · pretses

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "peste" for "Prestes" ever safe?
No. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "peste" vs "Prestes" - which ranks higher?
"Prestes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,099 in our Portuguese list, against #10,061 for "peste". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "peste" vs "Prestes" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "peste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Prestes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,010 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "peste" and "Prestes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peste vs petty". 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 #58,010 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