pau

/ˈpaw/

//ˈpaw// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“pau” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #2,492) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#2,492
frequency rank, Portuguese
1,578
“P” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - bastão de madeira

Corpus desk

Index PT-pau · pau · Portuguese

pau · rank #2,492 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,492
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,578
  • PHOTO-FINISH ora

Nearest frequency peer: ora (-3 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Vizinhos de frequência do confusável “pau”

Pares de peso semelhante no corpus, aparte dos confusáveis abaixo

corpus weight

What this shows As barras situam “pau” face aos lemas portugueses mais próximos por rank, não um reprint da secretária de confusáveis.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

pau vs pé
33% similar
pau vs PT
0% similar
pau vs pó
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for pau
PropertyValue
Headwordpau
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈpaw/
Letters3
Frequency rank#2,492
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rank de corpus junto a confusáveis de “pau”

A frequência vai do punhado de palavras do dia a dia (esquerda) à cauda longa quase nunca usada (direita).paucai aqui:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

A escala é logarítmica (cada marca ≈ 10× mais rara). Na mesma faixa de raridade aparecem “ora” (#2,489), “seção” (#2,496), “marcado” (#2,487). Entre 1,578 lemas com “P”, “pau” fica em #2,492. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for pau is neighbouring look-alikes ("pé", "PT", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /ˈpaw/. Frequency #2,492 among 1,578 “P” headwords. 7 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

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

  1. 1
    bastão de madeira
  2. 2
    pênis
  3. 3
    surra
  4. 4
    briga
  5. 5
    velocidade
  6. 6
    baliza do gol, comumente mais usado em referência ao travessão e partes do meio para cima dos postes
  7. 7
    instância judiciária processual (nota: não admite plural)

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how pau appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Definir o que estava certo ou qual a maneira certa de lidar com esse tópico já deu paus homéricos.
  2. Pegou o carro e feito louco desceu a montanha no maior pau.

Synonyms

justiça

This word in other languages

stick(English)

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

How do you spell "pau"?
"pau" is spelled P-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpaw/.
What does "pau" mean?
As a noun, "pau" means: bastão de madeira
What words are commonly confused with "pau"?
"pau" is commonly confused with "pé", "PT", "pó". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pau"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pau" is /ˈpaw/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pau" come from?
"pau" is a Portuguese word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Portuguese words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pau", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

ora#2,489day#2,512art#2,554tia#2,401

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list