picar vs pirar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#26,144
“picar” frequency rank: #24,423
“pirar” frequency rank: 50567
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	picar	pirar
Definition	dar picadas em	endoidar

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch

picar

5 ch

pirar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. picar (/pi.ˈkaɾ/) and pirar (/pi.ˈɾaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - c in “picar” becomes r in “pirar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50567, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

picar is recorded at frequency rank #26,144, classified as averb, pronounced /pi.ˈkaɾ/. 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 50567, this pair ranks #14,402 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of picar vs pirar

Shared letters: aipr. Private to "picar": c. Private to "pirar": -.

"picar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "pirar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

picar ← ipcar · pciar · piacr · picarr · piccar · picra · ppicar
pirar ← iprar · piarr · pirarr · pirrar · ppirar · priar

Frequency comparison

picar#26,144

pirar#24,423

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

No. They are said differently (/pi.ˈkaɾ/ versus /pi.ˈɾaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

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

"pirar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,423 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 picar vs pirar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “picar” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable