penca

/ˈpẽ.kɐ/

//ˈpẽ.kɐ// noun

The verdict

“penca” is uncommon Portuguese (frequency #53,489 among 1,578 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#53,489
frequency rank, Portuguese
1,578
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - conjunto de flores, frutas ou chaves

Corpus desk

Index PT-penca · penca · Portuguese

penca · rank #53,489 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #53,489
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,578
  • PHOTO-FINISH pensante

Nearest frequency peer: pensante (+1 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.

Ranks da cauda longa perto de “penca”

Faixa escassa: as barras invertem o rank para o raro ler-se mais curto

corpus weight

What this shows Vista da cauda longa: onde “penca” se situa face a ranks portugueses igualmente raros.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for penca
PropertyValue
Headwordpenca
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈpẽ.kɐ/
Letters5
Frequency rank#53,489
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Cauda longa: rank de “penca” em português

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

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

O eixo é logarítmico: cada tick marca cerca de dez vezes menos frequência. Vizinhos raros da mesma faixa: “pensante” (#53,490), “pediátrico” (#53,487), “pilhar” (#53,497). Entre 1,578 lemas com “P”, “penca” fica em #53,489. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

penca is uncommon Portuguese at frequency #53,489 among 1,578 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈpẽ.kɐ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 10 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for penca, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct Portuguese form is penca, spelled P-E-N-C-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    conjunto de flores, frutas ou chaves
  2. 2
    grande quantidade
  3. 3
    nariz grande
  4. 4
    pênis
  5. 5
    pedaço de couro com o que o verdugo açoitava ao réu
  6. 6
    sarda, mancha pardacenta ou amarela na pele
  7. 7
    marca ou mancha na fruta ou fruto, por dano
  8. 8
    ramo de batata
  9. 9
    doença das plantas cultivadas que as faz morrer por zonas do plantio
  10. 10
    talo de couve-galega

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Até que ponto a vida do pai, José Martiniano de Alencar, sacerdote e chefe de família com uma penca de filhos, influenciou a personalidade do autor?

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 "penca"?
"penca" is spelled P-E-N-C-A. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpẽ.kɐ/.
What does "penca" mean?
As a noun, "penca" means: conjunto de flores, frutas ou chaves
How do you pronounce "penca"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "penca" is /ˈpẽ.kɐ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "penca" come from?
"penca" is a Portuguese word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "penca", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list