pagãovspilãoTell them apart

Quick tell: pagão is a adjective, pilão is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pagão” is an adjective and “pilão” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,306
“pagão” frequency rank
#45,522
“pilão” frequency rank
73828
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pagão pilão
Definition diz-se de pessoa não batizada mão do almofariz

Letter map: pagão vs pilão

Shared letters muted; letters that set pagão and pilão apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. pagão and pilão follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
pagão
5 ch
pilão

Role in the sentence - pagão and pilão

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: pagão is anadjective and pilãoanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73828, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pagão is recorded at frequency rank #28,306, classified as anadj. pilão is at rank #45,522, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pi.ˈlɐ̃w̃/.

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 73828, this pair ranks #2,676 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pagão vs pilão

Shared letters: opã. Private to "pagão": ag. Private to "pilão": il.

"pagão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "pilão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pagão" and "pilão" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pagão" is an adjective and "pilão" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "pagão" vs "pilão" - which ranks higher?
"pagão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,306 in our Portuguese list, against #45,522 for "pilão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "pagão" and "pilão". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pagão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pilão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,676 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pagão" and "pilão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pilão vs platô". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #2,676 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