prometervsprotegerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,369
“prometer” frequency rank
#1,445
“proteger” frequency rank
14814
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prometer proteger
Definition obrigar-se a fazer alguma coisa defender

Where the eye mixes prometer and proteger

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
prometer
8 ch
proteger

Visual trap between prometer and proteger

A purely visual mix-up. prometer (/pɾu.mɨ.ˈteɾ/) and proteger (/pɾu.tɨ.ˈʒeɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14814, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prometer is recorded at frequency rank #13,369, classified as averb, pronounced /pɾu.mɨ.ˈteɾ/. proteger is at rank #1,445, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɾu.tɨ.ˈʒeɾ/.

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 14814, this pair ranks #57,178 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of prometer vs proteger

Shared letters: eoprt. Private to "prometer": m. Private to "proteger": g.

"prometer" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC  ·  "proteger" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prometerpormeter · pprometer · prmoeter · proemter · promeetr · prometerr · prometre · prometter
  • protegerporteger · pproteger · proetger · proteegr · protegerr · protegger · protegre · protgeer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "prometer" for "proteger" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/pɾu.mɨ.ˈteɾ/ versus /pɾu.tɨ.ˈʒeɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "prometer" vs "proteger" - which ranks higher?
"proteger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,445 in our Portuguese list, against #13,369 for "prometer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "prometer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "proteger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,178 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prometer" and "proteger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "proteger vs prótese". 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 #57,178 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