Which to use
“premier” is a noun and “prender” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,313
- “premier” frequency rank
- #4,096
- “prender” frequency rank
- 16409
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | premier | prender |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | primeiro-ministro, premiê | colocar na prisão pessoa que infringiu a lei |
Where the eye mixes premier and prender
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses premier with prender
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: premier is /ˈprɛ̃mʲjɛr/ while prender is /pɾẽ.ˈdeɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16409, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
premier is recorded at frequency rank #12,313, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈprɛ̃mʲjɛr/. prender is at rank #4,096, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɾẽ.ˈdeɾ/.
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 16409, this pair ranks #55,136 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of premier vs prender
Shared letters: epr. Private to "premier": im. Private to "prender": dn.
"premier" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC · "prender" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "premier" and "prender" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "premier" or "prender" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "premier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prender" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #55,136 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "premier" and "prender" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "predizer vs premier". 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 #55,136 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.