pai
The verdict
“pai” is in the everyday core of Portuguese, ranked #240 in Portuguese word frequency and used as a noun.
- #240
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - homem que tem filhos, naturais ou adotivos
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pai |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #240 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pai” sits in Portuguese frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Portuguese entry for pai is 3 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #240 in overall Portuguese word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Zero misspellings are on record for pai in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pé", "PT", "pó", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct Portuguese form is pai, spelled P-A-I.
Definition
- 1homem que tem filhos, naturais ou adotivos
- 2macho que gerou prole; genitor, progenitor
- 3fundador, pessoa que iniciou algo
- 4tratamento afetuoso ou respeitoso que se dá aos idosos em alguns dialetos
- 5líder de um terreiro
- 6a causa ou origem
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “pai”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is P-A-I - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “pé” - see the side-by-side comparison. pai vs pé
- Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.