picada vs picar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#14,207
“picada” frequency rank: #26,144
“picar” frequency rank: 40351
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	picada	picar
Definition	golpe dado com pico	dar picadas em

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set picada and picar apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

picada

5 ch

picar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: picada is /pi.ˈka.dɐ/ while picar is /pi.ˈkaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40351, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

picada is recorded at frequency rank #14,207, classified as anoun, pronounced /pi.ˈka.dɐ/. 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 40351, this pair ranks #25,770 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of picada vs picar

Shared letters: acip. Private to "picada": d. Private to "picar": r.

"picada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "picar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

picada ← ipcada · pciada · piacda · picaad · picadda · piccada · picdaa · ppicada
picar ← ipcar · pciar · piacr · picarr · piccar · picra · ppicar

Frequency comparison

picada#14,207

picar#26,144

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "picada" and "picar" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "picada" is a noun and "picar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "picada" or "picar"?

"picada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,207 in our Portuguese list, against #26,144 for "picar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering picada vs picar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “picada”; for a verb, it's “picar”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “picada” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable