pingavspingueWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#24,754
“pinga” frequency rank
#38,425
“pingue” frequency rank
63179
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pinga pingue
Definition diz-se de pessoa que não tem dinheiro crasso, gorduroso

Where the eye mixes pinga and pingue

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
pinga
6 ch
pingue

Look-alike desk: pinga vs pingue

A purely visual mix-up. pinga (/ˈpĩ.ɡɐ/) and pingue (/ˈpĩ.ɡɨ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63179, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pinga is recorded at frequency rank #24,754, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpĩ.ɡɐ/. pingue is at rank #38,425, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpĩ.ɡɨ/.

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 63179, this pair ranks #6,314 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pinga vs pingue

Shared letters: ginp. Private to "pinga": a. Private to "pingue": eu.

"pinga" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pingue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pingaipnga · pigna · pinag · pingga · pinnga · pniga · ppinga
  • pingueipngue · pignue · pingeu · pinggue · pinngue · pinuge · pnigue · ppingue

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pinga" for "pingue" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpĩ.ɡɐ/ versus /ˈpĩ.ɡɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pinga" vs "pingue" - which ranks higher?
"pinga" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,754 in our Portuguese list, against #38,425 for "pingue". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pinga" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pingue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #6,314 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pinga" and "pingue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pingos vs pingue". 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 #6,314 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