propiciarvspropícioTell them apart

Quick tell: propiciar is a verb, propício is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“propiciar” is a verb and “propício” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,031
“propiciar” frequency rank
#22,134
“propício” frequency rank
67165
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature propiciar propício
Definition tornar propício, favorável favorável, adequado, auspicioso

Where the eye mixes propiciar and propício

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

9 ch
propiciar
8 ch
propício

Why the eye confuses propiciar with propício

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: propiciar is /pɾu.pi.ˈsjaɾ/ while propício is /pɾu.ˈpi.sju/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67165, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

propiciar is recorded at frequency rank #45,031, classified as averb, pronounced /pɾu.pi.ˈsjaɾ/. propício is at rank #22,134, tagged as anadj, pronounced /pɾu.ˈpi.sju/.

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 67165, this pair ranks #4,732 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of propiciar vs propício

Shared letters: ciopr. Private to "propiciar": a. Private to "propício": í.

"propiciar" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVVC  ·  "propício" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • propiciar ← porpiciar · ppropiciar · proipciar · propciiar · propicair · propicciar · propiciarr · propicira

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "propiciar" and "propício" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "propiciar" is a verb and "propício" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "propiciar" or "propício" show up more?
"propício" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,134 in our Portuguese list, against #45,031 for "propiciar". 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 "propiciar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "propício" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,732 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "propiciar" and "propício" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "propício vs próprio". 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 #4,732 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