pródigovsprólogoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pródigo is a adjective, prólogo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pródigo” is an adjective and “prólogo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,872
“pródigo” frequency rank
#29,480
“prólogo” frequency rank
68352
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pródigo prólogo
Definition diz-se de quem dissipa imoderadamente os próprios bens a primeira parte, dialogada, da tragédia, no antigo teatro grego

Where the eye mixes pródigo and prólogo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. pródigo and prólogo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
pródigo
7 ch
prólogo

Look-alike desk: pródigo vs prólogo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pródigo is /ˈpɾɔ.di.ɡu/ while prólogo is /ˈpɾɔ.lu.ɡu/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68352, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pródigo is recorded at frequency rank #38,872, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɾɔ.di.ɡu/. prólogo is at rank #29,480, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɾɔ.lu.ɡu/.

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 68352, this pair ranks #4,302 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pródigo vs prólogo

Shared letters: gopró. Private to "pródigo": di. Private to "prólogo": l.

"pródigo" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "prólogo" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pródigo" for "prólogo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pródigo" is an adjective and "prólogo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pródigo" or "prólogo"?
"prólogo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,480 in our Portuguese list, against #38,872 for "pródigo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pródigo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prólogo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,302 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pródigo" and "prólogo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pródigo vs provido". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #4,302 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