pãesvspathTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,933
“pães” frequency rank
#25,422
“path” frequency rank
40355
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pães path
Definition plural de pão caminho

Where the eye mixes pães and path

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. pães (CVVC) and path (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
pães
4 ch
path

Look-alike desk: pães vs path

A purely visual mix-up. pães (/ˈpɐ̃j̃ʃ/) and path (/pæθ, pɑθ/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40355, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pães is recorded at frequency rank #14,933, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɐ̃j̃ʃ/. path is at rank #25,422, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pæθ, pɑθ/.

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 40355, this pair ranks #25,767 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pães vs path

Shared letters: p. Private to "pães": esã. Private to "path": aht.

"pães" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "path" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • path ← apth · paht · pathh · patth · ppath · ptah

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pães" and "path" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpɐ̃j̃ʃ/ versus /pæθ, pɑθ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pães" or "path"?
"pães" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,933 in our Portuguese list, against #25,422 for "path". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "pães" and "path" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pães" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "path" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,767 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pães" and "path" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pale vs path". 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 #25,767 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