preferivspreferidoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: preferi is a verb, preferido is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#24,121
“preferi” frequency rank
#6,925
“preferido” frequency rank
31046
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature preferi preferido
Definition preferir, gostar mais de, dar preferência, escolher que se prefere

Letter map: preferi vs preferido

Shared letters muted; letters that set preferi and preferido apart highlighted. Shared run: 7. preferi runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against preferido's 9 (CCVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
preferi
9 ch
preferido

Grammar separator: preferi vs preferido

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: preferi is averb and preferidoanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “preferi” sits inside “preferido”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31046, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

preferi is recorded at frequency rank #24,121, classified as averb, pronounced /prɛ.ˈfɛ.ri/. preferido is at rank #6,925, tagged as anadj.

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 31046, this pair ranks #37,167 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of preferi vs preferido

Shared letters: efipr. Private to "preferi": -. Private to "preferido": do.

"preferi" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "preferido" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • preferi ← perferi · ppreferi · preefri · prefeir · prefferi · prefrei · prfeeri · prreferi
  • preferido ← perferido · ppreferido · preefrido · prefeirdo · preferdio · preferiddo · preferiod · preferrido

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "preferi" and "preferido" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "preferi" is a verb and "preferido" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "preferi" or "preferido" show up more?
"preferido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,925 in our Portuguese list, against #24,121 for "preferi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "preferi" and "preferido". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "preferi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "preferido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,167 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "preferi" and "preferido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "preferi vs proferir". 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 #37,167 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