Which to use
“joan” and “José” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,027
- “joan” frequency rank
- #567
- “José” frequency rank
- 10594
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | joan | José |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pó | José |
Where the eye mixes joan and José
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. joan (CVVC) and José (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: joan vs José
A purely visual mix-up. joan (/dʒaun/) and José (/xo.sé/.) 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 10594, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
joan is recorded at frequency rank #10,027, classified as anoun, pronounced /dʒaun/. José is at rank #567, tagged as anoun, pronounced /xo.sé/..
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 10594, this pair ranks #62,454 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of joan vs José
Shared letters: jo. Private to "joan": an. Private to "José": sé.
"joan" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "José" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- joan ← jaon · jjoan · joann · jona · ojan
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "joan" and "José" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "joan" or "José"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "joan" and "José" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "joan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "José" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #62,454 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "joan" and "José" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "joan vs join". 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 #62,454 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.