pacevsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: pace is a adverb, is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pace” is an adverb and “pé” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,071
“pace” frequency rank
#878
“pé” frequency rank
29949
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pace
Definition em paz, pacificamente extremidade dos membros inferiores do corpo humano, responsável pelo equilíbrio

Where the eye mixes pace and pé

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

4 ch
pace
2 ch
pé

Visual trap between pace and pé

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pace is /ˈpa.t͡se/, /ˈpɑ.t͡sɛ/ while is /ˈpɛ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29949, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pace is recorded at frequency rank #29,071, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈpa.t͡se/, /ˈpɑ.t͡sɛ/. is at rank #878, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛ/.

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 29949, this pair ranks #38,547 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pace vs pé

Shared letters: p. Private to "pace": ace. Private to "pé": é.

"pace" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pé" · 2 letters · shape CV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paceapce · pacce · paec · pcae · ppace

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pace" and "pé" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pace" is an adverb and "pé" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pace" or "pé"?
"pé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #878 in our Portuguese list, against #29,071 for "pace". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pace" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #38,547 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pace" and "pé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pace vs pale". 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 #38,547 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