pregovspresoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: prego is a noun, preso is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“prego” is a noun and “preso” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,890
“prego” frequency rank
#1,020
“preso” frequency rank
18910
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prego preso
Definition objeto com corpo cilíndrico com uma das extremidades pontiaguda e outra achatada, usado para ser enfiado em paredes ou para unir duas peças (especialmente de madeira) encarceirado, levado à prisão

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
prego
5 ch
preso

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: prego is anoun and presoanadjective. On the page they differ by a single letter - g in “prego” becomes s in “preso”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18910, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prego is recorded at frequency rank #17,890, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɾɛ.gu/. preso is at rank #1,020, 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 18910, this pair ranks #51,960 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prego vs preso

Shared letters: eopr. Private to "prego": g. Private to "preso": s.

"prego" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "preso" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pregopergo · pprego · preggo · preog · prgeo · prrego · rpego
  • presoperso · ppreso · preos · presso · prreso · prseo · rpeso

Frequency comparison

prego#17,890
preso#1,020

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prego" and "preso" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prego" is a noun and "preso" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "prego" or "preso"?
"preso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,020 in our Portuguese list, against #17,890 for "prego". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering prego vs preso

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “prego”; for an adjective, it's “preso”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “prego” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list