pactovspavioTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,454
“pacto” frequency rank
#38,849
“pavio” frequency rank
45303
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pacto pavio
Definition acordo feito entre duas ou mais partes acerca de algo cabo das velas, círios, candeias, mecha

Where the eye mixes pacto and pavio

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pacto (CVCCV) and pavio (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
pacto
5 ch
pavio

Look-alike desk: pacto vs pavio

A purely visual mix-up. pacto (/ˈpak.tu/) and pavio (/pɐ.ˈvi.u/) 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 45303, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pacto is recorded at frequency rank #6,454, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpak.tu/. pavio is at rank #38,849, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɐ.ˈvi.u/.

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 45303, this pair ranks #20,097 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pacto vs pavio

Shared letters: aop. Private to "pacto": ct. Private to "pavio": iv.

"pacto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pavio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pacto ← apcto · paccto · pacot · pactto · patco · pcato · ppacto
  • pavio ← apvio · paivo · pavoi · pavvio · ppavio · pvaio

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pacto" and "pavio" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpak.tu/ versus /pɐ.ˈvi.u/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pacto" vs "pavio" - which ranks higher?
"pacto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,454 in our Portuguese list, against #38,849 for "pavio". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pacto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pavio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,097 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pacto" and "pavio" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "papiro vs pavio". 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 #20,097 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