previsãovsprisãoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,336
“previsão” frequency rank
#834
“prisão” frequency rank
5170
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature previsão prisão
Definition ato ou efeito de prever ato ou efeito de prender

Where the eye mixes previsão and prisão

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

8 ch
previsão
6 ch
prisão

Visual trap between previsão and prisão

A purely visual mix-up. previsão (/pɾɨ.vi.ˈzɐ̃w̃/) and prisão (/pɾi.ˈzɐ̃w̃/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5170, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

previsão is recorded at frequency rank #4,336, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɾɨ.vi.ˈzɐ̃w̃/. prisão is at rank #834, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɾi.ˈzɐ̃w̃/.

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 5170, this pair ranks #69,526 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of previsão vs prisão

Shared letters: ioprsã. Private to "previsão": ev. Private to "prisão": -.

"previsão" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVV  ·  "prisão" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "previsão" and "prisão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/pɾɨ.vi.ˈzɐ̃w̃/ versus /pɾi.ˈzɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "previsão" or "prisão"?
"prisão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #834 in our Portuguese list, against #4,336 for "previsão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "previsão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prisão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #69,526 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "previsão" and "prisão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "predição vs previsão". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #69,526 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