galovsgásWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,184
“galo” frequency rank
#1,748
“gás” frequency rank
7932
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature galo gás
Definition macho adulto da espécie Gallus gallus estado fluido da matéria, sem forma definida, cujo volume é o do recipiente que o contém

Where the eye mixes galo and gás

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
galo
3 ch
gás

Why the eye confuses galo with gás

A purely visual mix-up. galo (/ˈga.lu/) and gás (/ˈɡaʃ/) 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 7932, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

galo is recorded at frequency rank #6,184, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈga.lu/. gás is at rank #1,748, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡaʃ/.

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 7932, this pair ranks #66,030 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of galo vs gás

Shared letters: g. Private to "galo": alo. Private to "gás": .

"galo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "gás" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • galogallo · gaol · ggalo · glao

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "galo" and "gás" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈga.lu/ versus /ˈɡaʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "galo" vs "gás" - which ranks higher?
"gás" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,748 in our Portuguese list, against #6,184 for "galo". 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 "galo" and "gás" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "galo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gás" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,030 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "galo" and "gás" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gain vs galo". 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 #66,030 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