possuídovspossuirWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: possuído is a adjective, possuir is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“possuído” is an adjective and “possuir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,428
“possuído” frequency rank
#5,128
“possuir” frequency rank
29556
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature possuído possuir
Definition que está na posse ou poder de alguém ter posse, controlar

Letter map: possuído vs possuir

Shared letters muted; letters that set possuído and possuir apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. possuído runs 8 letters (CVCCVVCV) against possuir's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
possuído
7 ch
possuir

Grammar separator: possuído vs possuir

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: possuído is anadjective and possuiraverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29556, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

possuído is recorded at frequency rank #24,428, classified as anadj. possuir is at rank #5,128, tagged as averb, pronounced /pu.ˈswiɾ/, /po.su.ˈiɾ/.

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 29556, this pair ranks #39,034 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of possuído vs possuir

Shared letters: opsu. Private to "possuído": dí. Private to "possuir": ir.

"possuído" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV  ·  "possuir" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • possuir ← opssuir · possiur · possuirr · possuri · posuir · posusir · ppossuir · psosuir

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "possuído" and "possuir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "possuído" is an adjective and "possuir" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "possuído" vs "possuir" - which ranks higher?
"possuir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,128 in our Portuguese list, against #24,428 for "possuído". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "possuído" and "possuir". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "possuído" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "possuir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #39,034 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • 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 #39,034 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