palhavspathWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#9,083
“palha” frequency rank
#25,422
“path” frequency rank
34505
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature palha path
Definition fraco ou ruim caminho

Where the eye mixes palha and path

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
palha
4 ch
path

Why the eye confuses palha with path

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: palha is /ˈpa.ʎɐ/ while path is /pæθ, pɑθ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34505, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

palha is recorded at frequency rank #9,083, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpa.ʎɐ/. path is at rank #25,422, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pæθ, pɑθ/.

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 34505, this pair ranks #32,738 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of palha vs path

Shared letters: ahp. Private to "palha": l. Private to "path": t.

"palha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "path" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • palhaaplha · pahla · palah · palhha · pallha · plaha · ppalha
  • pathapth · paht · pathh · patth · ppath · ptah

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "palha" and "path" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "palha" is an adjective and "path" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "palha" or "path"?
"palha" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,083 in our Portuguese list, against #25,422 for "path". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "palha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "path" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,738 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "palha" and "path" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pale vs path". 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 #32,738 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