porvspubWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: por is a preposition, pub is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“por” is a preposition and “pub” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18
“por” frequency rank
#14,932
“pub” frequency rank
14950
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature por pub
Definition exprime, entre outras relações, causa, modo, tempo, meio, lugar, qualidade, estado, preço, etc bar, boteco

Where the eye mixes por and pub

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
por
3 ch
pub

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: por is /poɾ/, /pʊɾ/ while pub is /pʌb/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14950, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

por is recorded at frequency rank #18, classified as aprep, pronounced /poɾ/, /pʊɾ/. pub is at rank #14,932, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pʌb/.

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 14950, this pair ranks #57,008 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of por vs pub

Shared letters: p. Private to "por": or. Private to "pub": bu.

"por" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "pub" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "por" and "pub" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "por" is a preposition and "pub" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "por" or "pub"?
"por" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18 in our Portuguese list, against #14,932 for "pub". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "por" and "pub". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "por" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pub" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,008 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "por" and "pub" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pix vs pub". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list