Which to use
“prisão” and “provisão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #834
- “prisão” frequency rank
- #23,462
- “provisão” frequency rank
- 24296
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prisão | provisão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ato ou efeito de prender | prescrição |
Where the eye mixes prisão and provisão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. prisão runs 6 letters (CCVCVV) against provisão's 8 (CCVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between prisão and provisão
A purely visual mix-up. prisão (/pɾi.ˈzɐ̃w̃/) and provisão (/pɾu.vi.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 24296, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
prisão is recorded at frequency rank #834, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɾi.ˈzɐ̃w̃/. provisão is at rank #23,462, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɾu.vi.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 24296, this pair ranks #45,358 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of prisão vs provisão
Shared letters: ioprsã. Private to "prisão": -. Private to "provisão": v.
"prisão" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV · "provisão" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "prisão" and "provisão" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "prisão" or "provisão"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "prisão" and "provisão" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "prisão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "provisão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,358 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prisão" and "provisão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "provido vs provisão". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #45,358 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.