Which to use
“paço” is a noun and “porco” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,136
- “paço” frequency rank
- #5,878
- “porco” frequency rank
- 24014
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paço | porco |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | residência oficial de um governante, monarca, soberano ou dignitário religioso | que é muito sujo, imundo |
Where the eye mixes paço and porco
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. paço runs 4 letters (CVCV) against porco's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between paço and porco
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: paço is /pˈasʊ/ while porco is /ˈpoɾ.ku/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24014, 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/. porco is at rank #5,878, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpoɾ.ku/.
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 24014, this pair ranks #45,695 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of paço vs porco
Shared letters: op. Private to "paço": aç. Private to "porco": cr.
"paço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "porco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- porco ← oprco · pocro · porcco · poroc · porrco · pporco · proco
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "paço" for "porco" ever safe?
Which is more common, "paço" or "porco"?
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 "paço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "porco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,695 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paço" and "porco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paço vs paçoca". 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 #45,695 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.