golevsgotaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#17,806
“gole” frequency rank
#7,162
“gota” frequency rank
24968
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gole gota
Definition porção de líquido que se engole de uma vez fragmento globular de um líquido

Where the eye mixes gole and gota

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. gole and gota follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
gole
4 ch
gota

Visual trap between gole and gota

A purely visual mix-up. gole (/ˈɡɔ.lɨ/) and gota (/ˈɡo.tɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24968, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gole is recorded at frequency rank #17,806, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡɔ.lɨ/. gota is at rank #7,162, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡo.tɐ/.

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 24968, this pair ranks #44,467 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gole vs gota

Shared letters: go. Private to "gole": el. Private to "gota": at.

"gole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "gota" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gole ← ggole · gloe · goel · golle · ogle
  • gota ← ggota · gtoa · ogta

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gole" for "gota" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɡɔ.lɨ/ versus /ˈɡo.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gole" or "gota"?
"gota" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,162 in our Portuguese list, against #17,806 for "gole". 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 "gole" and "gota" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gole" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gota" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,467 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gole" and "gota" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "GOAT vs gole". 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 #44,467 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