paixão vs puxão, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#2,282
“paixão” frequency rank: #39,818
“puxão” frequency rank: 42100
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	paixão	puxão
Definition	sentimento ou emoção de grande intensidade	puxada forte e repentina

Where the eye mixes paixão and puxão

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. paixão runs 6 letters (CVVCVV) against puxão's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch

paixão

5 ch

puxão

Look-alike desk: paixão vs puxão

A purely visual mix-up. paixão (/paj.ˈʃɐ̃w̃/) and puxão (/pu.ˈʃɐ̃w̃/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42100, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paixão is recorded at frequency rank #2,282, classified as anoun, pronounced /paj.ˈʃɐ̃w̃/. puxão is at rank #39,818, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pu.ˈʃɐ̃w̃/.

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 42100, this pair ranks #23,726 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of paixão vs puxão

Shared letters: opxã. Private to "paixão": ai. Private to "puxão": u.

"paixão" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV · "puxão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "paixão" and "puxão" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently (/paj.ˈʃɐ̃w̃/ versus /pu.ˈʃɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Frequency check: "paixão" vs "puxão" - which ranks higher?

"paixão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,282 in our Portuguese list, against #39,818 for "puxão". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

Full dictionary entry for "paixão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "puxão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #23,726 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"paixão" and "puxão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pilão vs puxão". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #23,726 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.