pau
/ˈpaw/
The verdict
“pau” is a regularly-used Portuguese word, ranked #2,492 in Portuguese word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,492
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - bastão de madeira
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 | pau |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpaw/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #2,492 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pau” sits in Portuguese frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Portuguese entry for pau is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpaw/. Corpus data places it at rank #2,492 in overall Portuguese word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for pau, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pé", "PT", "pó", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Portuguese form is pau, spelled P-A-U.
Definition
- 1bastão de madeira
- 2pênis
- 3surra
- 4briga
- 5velocidade
- 6baliza do gol, comumente mais usado em referência ao travessão e partes do meio para cima dos postes
- 7instância judiciária processual (nota: não admite plural)
Synonyms
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 “pau”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is P-A-U - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpaw/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “pé” - see the side-by-side comparison. pau 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.