palatovspalmoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#42,586
“palato” frequency rank
#41,647
“palmo” frequency rank
84233
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature palato palmo
Definition divisão muscular e óssea que separa a cavidade nasal da cavidade oral medida igual à distância entre as extremidades dos dedos polegar e mínimo de uma mão aberta

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set palato and palmo apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
palato
5 ch
palmo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. palato (/pɐ.ˈla.tu/) and palmo (/ˈpaɫ.mu/) 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 84233, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

palato is recorded at frequency rank #42,586, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɐ.ˈla.tu/. palmo is at rank #41,647, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpaɫ.mu/.

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 84233, this pair ranks #812 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of palato vs palmo

Shared letters: alop. Private to "palato": t. Private to "palmo": m.

"palato" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "palmo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • palatoaplato · paalto · palaot · palatto · pallato · paltao · plaato · ppalato
  • palmoaplmo · pallmo · palmmo · palom · pamlo · plamo · ppalmo

Frequency comparison

palato#42,586
palmo#41,647

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "palato" and "palmo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/pɐ.ˈla.tu/ versus /ˈpaɫ.mu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "palato" or "palmo"?
"palmo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,647 in our Portuguese list, against #42,586 for "palato". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering palato vs palmo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “palato” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list