galãovsgulaConfusable pair

Which to use

“galão” and “gula” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#27,496
“galão” frequency rank
#35,619
“gula” frequency rank
63115
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature galão gula
Definition tira de tecido bordada com fios e usada como ornamentação de roupas, estofamentos, etc desejo excessivo de comer

Where the eye mixes galão and gula

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. galão runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against gula's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
galão
4 ch
gula

Look-alike desk: galão vs gula

A purely visual mix-up. galão (/ɡɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) and gula (/ˈɡu.lɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63115, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

galão is recorded at frequency rank #27,496, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/. gula is at rank #35,619, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡu.lɐ/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 63115, this pair ranks #6,349 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of galão vs gula

Shared letters: agl. Private to "galão": oã. Private to "gula": u.

"galão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "gula" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gula ← ggula · glua · gual · gulla · ugla

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "galão" and "gula" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɡɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/ versus /ˈɡu.lɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "galão" or "gula"?
"galão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,496 in our Portuguese list, against #35,619 for "gula". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "galão" and "gula" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "galão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gula" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #6,349 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "galão" and "gula" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grua vs gula". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #6,349 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list