piolho
/ˈpjo.ʎu/
The verdict
“piolho” is a moderately-common Portuguese word, ranked #32,316 in Portuguese word frequency and used as a noun.
- #32,316
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - inseto parasita que suga o sangue de vertebrados e lhes transmite várias doenças
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 | piolho |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpjo.ʎu/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #32,316 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “piolho” sits in Portuguese frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Portuguese entry for piolho is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpjo.ʎu/. Corpus data places it at rank #32,316 in overall Portuguese word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "inseto parasita que suga o sangue de vertebrados e lhes transmite várias doenças".
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for piolho, with forms such as "ipolho", "piloho", and "piohlo". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "polo", "polvo", "pilha", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, 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 piolho, spelled P-I-O-L-H-O.
Definition
- 1inseto parasita que suga o sangue de vertebrados e lhes transmite várias doenças
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ipolho,piloho,piohlo,piolhho,piollho,pioloh,poilho,ppiolho
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of piolho - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "piolho"?
What does "piolho" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "piolho"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “piolho”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is P-I-O-L-H-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpjo.ʎu/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “polo” - see the side-by-side comparison. piolho vs polo
- 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.