pãesvspaxTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,933
“pães” frequency rank
#26,136
“pax” frequency rank
41069
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pães pax
Definition plural de pão indivíduo, cabeça

Letter map: pães vs pax

Shared letters muted; letters that set pães and pax apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. pães runs 4 letters (CVVC) against pax's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
pães
3 ch
pax

Corpus notes: pães and pax

pães and pax are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41069, 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/. pax is at rank #26,136, tagged as anoun.

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 41069, this pair ranks #24,934 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pães vs pax

Shared letters: p. Private to "pães": esã. Private to "pax": ax.

"pães" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "pax" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pães" for "pax" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "pães" or "pax"?
"pães" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,933 in our Portuguese list, against #26,136 for "pax". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "pães" vs "pax" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pães" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pax" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,934 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pães" and "pax" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pax vs pix". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #24,934 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