Which to use
“palco” is a noun and “palhaço” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,793
- “palco” frequency rank
- #6,455
- “palhaço” frequency rank
- 8248
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | palco | palhaço |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plataforma onde se executam (interpretam) peças de teatro ou música | feito de palha |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set palco and palhaço apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: palco is /ˈpaɫ.ku/ while palhaço is /pɐ.ˈʎa.su/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8248, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
palco is recorded at frequency rank #1,793, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpaɫ.ku/. palhaço is at rank #6,455, tagged as anadj, pronounced /pɐ.ˈʎa.su/.
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 8248, this pair ranks #65,603 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of palco vs palhaço
Shared letters: alop. Private to "palco": c. Private to "palhaço": hç.
"palco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "palhaço" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- palco ← aplco · paclo · palcco · pallco · paloc · placo · ppalco
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "palco" and "palhaço" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "palco" or "palhaço"?
Remembering palco vs palhaço
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “palco”; for an adjective, it's “palhaço”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “palco” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable