Which to use
“picar” and “pisar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,144
- “picar” frequency rank
- #11,125
- “pisar” frequency rank
- 37269
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | picar | pisar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | dar picadas em | colocar os pés sobre |
Where the eye mixes picar and pisar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. picar and pisar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: picar vs pisar
A purely visual mix-up. picar (/pi.ˈkaɾ/) and pisar (/pi.ˈzaɾ/) 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 s in “pisar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37269, 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/. pisar is at rank #11,125, tagged as averb, pronounced /pi.ˈzaɾ/.
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 37269, this pair ranks #29,383 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of picar vs pisar
Shared letters: aipr. Private to "picar": c. Private to "pisar": s.
"picar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "pisar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "picar" and "pisar" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "picar" vs "pisar" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "picar" and "pisar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "picar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pisar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #29,383 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "picar" and "pisar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "picar vs pilão". 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 #29,383 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.