paço vs país, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#18,136
“paço” frequency rank: #214
“país” frequency rank: 18350
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	paço	país
Definition	residência oficial de um governante, monarca, soberano ou dignitário religioso	região; terra

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set paço and país apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

paço

4 ch

país

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. paço (/pˈasʊ/) and país (/pɐ.ˈiʃ/) 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 18350, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paço is recorded at frequency rank #18,136, classified as anoun, pronounced /pˈasʊ/. país is at rank #214, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɐ.ˈiʃ/.

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 18350, this pair ranks #52,653 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of paço vs país

Shared letters: ap. Private to "paço": oç. Private to "país": sí.

"paço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "país" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Frequency comparison

paço#18,136

país#214

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "paço" and "país" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/pˈasʊ/ versus /pɐ.ˈiʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "paço" or "país"?

"país" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #214 in our Portuguese list, against #18,136 for "paço". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering paço vs país

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “paço” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable