pratovspretaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,431
“prato” frequency rank
#2,791
“preta” frequency rank
6222
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prato preta
Definition vasilha, normalmente de louça ou metal, em que se come ou se serve comida a bola número 8 dum bilhar ou duma sinuca

Letter map: prato vs preta

Shared letters muted; letters that set prato and preta apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
prato
5 ch
preta

Corpus notes: prato and preta

prato and preta are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6222, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prato is recorded at frequency rank #3,431, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɾa.tu/. preta is at rank #2,791, tagged as anoun.

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 6222, this pair ranks #68,248 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of prato vs preta

Shared letters: aprt. Private to "prato": o. Private to "preta": e.

"prato" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "preta" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pratopprato · praot · pratto · prrato · prtao · rpato
  • pretaperta · ppreta · preat · pretta · prreta · prtea · rpeta

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "prato" for "preta" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "prato" or "preta"?
"preta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,791 in our Portuguese list, against #3,431 for "prato". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "prato" vs "preta" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "prato" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "preta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #68,248 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prato" and "preta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pluto vs prato". 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 #68,248 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