pirar vs privar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#24,423
“pirar” frequency rank: #27,982
“privar” frequency rank: 52405
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	pirar	privar
Definition	endoidar	tirar a propriedade de

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch

pirar

6 ch

privar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pirar (/pi.ˈɾaɾ/) and privar (/pɾi.ˈvaɾ/) 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 52405, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pirar is recorded at frequency rank #24,423, classified as averb, pronounced /pi.ˈɾaɾ/. privar is at rank #27,982, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɾi.ˈvaɾ/.

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 52405, this pair ranks #12,784 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pirar vs privar

Shared letters: aipr. Private to "pirar": -. Private to "privar": v.

"pirar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "privar" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

pirar ← iprar · piarr · pirarr · pirrar · ppirar · priar
privar ← pirvar · pprivar · priavr · privarr · privra · privvar · prrivar · prviar

Frequency comparison

pirar#24,423

privar#27,982

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"pirar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,423 in our Portuguese list, against #27,982 for "privar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pirar vs privar

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 “pirar” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable