PablovspêloTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,841
“Pablo” frequency rank
#26,526
“pêlo” frequency rank
31367
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pablo pêlo
Definition Paulo, último apóstolo de Jesus Cristo vide pelo

Where the eye mixes Pablo and pêlo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Pablo
4 ch
pêlo

Why the eye confuses Pablo with pêlo

A purely visual mix-up. Pablo (/'pa.βlo/.) and pêlo (/ˈpe.lu/) 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 31367, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pablo is recorded at frequency rank #4,841, classified as anoun, pronounced /'pa.βlo/.. pêlo is at rank #26,526, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpe.lu/.

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 31367, this pair ranks #36,750 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Pablo vs pêlo

Shared letters: lop. Private to "Pablo": ab. Private to "pêlo": ê.

"Pablo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pêlo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Pabloapblo · pabblo · pabllo · pabol · palbo · pbalo · ppablo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Pablo" for "pêlo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/'pa.βlo/. versus /ˈpe.lu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Pablo" vs "pêlo" - which ranks higher?
"Pablo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,841 in our Portuguese list, against #26,526 for "pêlo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pablo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pêlo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #36,750 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pablo" and "pêlo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pêlo vs pilão". 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 #36,750 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