sararvssepararWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#29,512
“sarar” frequency rank
#5,043
“separar” frequency rank
34555
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sarar separar
Definition curar, dar saúde desunir o que estava ligado; estabelecer uma distância (ou aumentá-la) entre duas coisas ou grupos de coisas

Where the eye mixes sarar and separar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
sarar
7 ch
separar

Look-alike desk: sarar vs separar

A purely visual mix-up. sarar (/sɐ.ˈɾaɾ/) and separar (/sɨ.pɐ.ˈɾaɾ/) 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 34555, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sarar is recorded at frequency rank #29,512, classified as averb, pronounced /sɐ.ˈɾaɾ/. separar is at rank #5,043, tagged as averb, pronounced /sɨ.pɐ.ˈɾaɾ/.

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 34555, this pair ranks #32,673 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sarar vs separar

Shared letters: ars. Private to "sarar": -. Private to "separar": ep.

"sarar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "separar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sararasrar · saarr · sararr · sarra · sarrar · sraar · ssarar
  • separaresparar · seaprar · sepaarr · separarr · separra · separrar · sepparar · sepraar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "sarar" for "separar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/sɐ.ˈɾaɾ/ versus /sɨ.pɐ.ˈɾaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "sarar" vs "separar" - which ranks higher?
"separar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,043 in our Portuguese list, against #29,512 for "sarar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "sarar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "separar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,673 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "sarar" and "separar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sarado vs sarar". 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 #32,673 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