paivsplayConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#240
“pai” frequency rank
#3,929
“play” frequency rank
4169
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pai play
Definition homem que tem filhos, naturais ou adotivos botão que aciona a reprodução de mídia

Letter map: pai vs play

Shared letters muted; letters that set pai and play apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
pai
4 ch
play

Corpus notes: pai and play

pai and play 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 4169, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pai is recorded at frequency rank #240, classified as anoun. play is at rank #3,929, 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 4169, this pair ranks #70,831 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pai vs play

Shared letters: ap. Private to "pai": i. Private to "play": ly.

"pai" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "play" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • playlpay · paly · playy · pllay · plya · pplay

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pai" and "play" mean the same thing in a sentence?
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, "pai" or "play"?
"pai" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #240 in our Portuguese list, against #3,929 for "play". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "pai" and "play".

  • Full dictionary entry for "pai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "play" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,831 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pai" and "play" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pilão vs play". 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 #70,831 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