pregovspretaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#17,890
“prego” frequency rank
#2,791
“preta” frequency rank
20681
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prego preta
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) a bola número 8 dum bilhar ou duma sinuca

Letter map: prego vs preta

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

5 ch
prego
5 ch
preta

Pair insight - prego / preta

prego 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 20681, 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/. 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 20681, this pair ranks #49,763 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prego vs preta

Shared letters: epr. Private to "prego": go. Private to "preta": at.

"prego" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "preta" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pregopergo · pprego · preggo · preog · prgeo · prrego · rpego
  • pretaperta · ppreta · preat · pretta · prreta · prtea · rpeta

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "prego" and "preta" mean the same thing in a sentence?
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.
Frequency check: "prego" vs "preta" - which ranks higher?
"preta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,791 in our Portuguese list, against #17,890 for "prego". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "prego" and "preta".

  • Full dictionary entry for "prego" 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 #49,763 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prego" and "preta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prego vs proto". 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 #49,763 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