piãovspicarWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#35,727
“pião” frequency rank
#26,144
“picar” frequency rank
61871
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pião picar
Definition brinquedo que consiste em puxar uma corda enrolada a um objeto afunilado, geralmente de madeira ou plástico e com uma ponta de ferro, colocando-o em rotação no solo, mantendo-se erguido dar picadas em

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pião and picar apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
pião
5 ch
picar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: pião is anoun and picaraverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61871, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pião is recorded at frequency rank #35,727, classified as anoun. picar is at rank #26,144, tagged as averb, pronounced /pi.ˈkaɾ/.

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 61871, this pair ranks #6,933 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pião vs picar

Shared letters: ip. Private to "pião": . Private to "picar": acr.

"pião" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "picar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • picaripcar · pciar · piacr · picarr · piccar · picra · ppicar

Frequency comparison

pião#35,727
picar#26,144

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pião" and "picar" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pião" is a noun and "picar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pião" or "picar"?
"picar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,144 in our Portuguese list, against #35,727 for "pião". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pião vs picar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “pião”; for a verb, it's “picar”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pião” 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