presençavsprevençãoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#855
“presença” frequency rank
#4,424
“prevenção” frequency rank
5279
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature presença prevenção
Definition o fato de estar presente ato ou efeito de prevenir

Where the eye mixes presença and prevenção

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. presença runs 8 letters (CCVCVCCV) against prevenção's 9 (CCVCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
presença
9 ch
prevenção

Visual trap between presença and prevenção

A purely visual mix-up. presença (/pɾɨ.ˈzẽ.sɐ/) and prevenção (/pɾɨ.vẽ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) 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 5279, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

presença is recorded at frequency rank #855, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɾɨ.ˈzẽ.sɐ/. prevenção is at rank #4,424, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɾɨ.vẽ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.

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 5279, this pair ranks #69,368 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of presença vs prevenção

Shared letters: enprç. Private to "presença": as. Private to "prevenção": ovã.

"presença" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV  ·  "prevenção" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "presença" and "prevenção" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/pɾɨ.ˈzẽ.sɐ/ versus /pɾɨ.vẽ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "presença" vs "prevenção" - which ranks higher?
"presença" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #855 in our Portuguese list, against #4,424 for "prevenção". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "presença" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prevenção" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #69,368 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "presença" and "prevenção" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prevenção vs prevenido". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #69,368 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