Which to use
“pace” is an adverb and “poço” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,071
- “pace” frequency rank
- #5,129
- “poço” frequency rank
- 34200
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pace | poço |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | em paz, pacificamente | buraco fundo, geralmente circular, cavado no chão, com o objetivo de encontrar água |
Where the eye mixes pace and poço
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pace with poço
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pace is /ˈpa.t͡se/, /ˈpɑ.t͡sɛ/ while poço is /ˈpo.su/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34200, 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/. poço is at rank #5,129, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpo.su/.
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 34200, this pair ranks #33,131 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pace vs poço
Shared letters: p. Private to "pace": ace. Private to "poço": oç.
"pace" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "poço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pace ← apce · pacce · paec · pcae · ppace
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pace" for "poço" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pace" or "poço"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pace" and "poço" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pace" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poço" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #33,131 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pace" and "poço" 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 #33,131 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.