presavsprismaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,165
“presa” frequency rank
#17,894
“prisma” frequency rank
21059
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature presa prisma
Definition ato de apresar ou de apreender ao inimigo coisas que servem para transportar ou são transportadas sólido com bases paralelas poligonais e paralelogramos como faces laterais

Where the eye mixes presa and prisma

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. presa runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against prisma's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
presa
6 ch
prisma

Look-alike desk: presa vs prisma

A purely visual mix-up. presa (/ˈpɾe.zɐ/) and prisma (/ˈpɾiʒ.mɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21059, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

presa is recorded at frequency rank #3,165, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɾe.zɐ/. prisma is at rank #17,894, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɾiʒ.mɐ/.

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 21059, this pair ranks #49,299 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of presa vs prisma

Shared letters: aprs. Private to "presa": e. Private to "prisma": im.

"presa" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "prisma" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • presa ← ppresa · preas · prresa · prsea · rpesa
  • prisma ← pirsma · pprisma · primsa · prisam · prismma · prissma · prrisma · prsima

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "presa" and "prisma" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpɾe.zɐ/ versus /ˈpɾiʒ.mɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "presa" or "prisma" show up more?
"presa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,165 in our Portuguese list, against #17,894 for "prisma". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "presa" and "prisma" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "presa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prisma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,299 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "presa" and "prisma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "presa vs priest". 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 #49,299 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