Which to use
“palma” and “palmela” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,567
- “palma” frequency rank
- #43,573
- “palmela” frequency rank
- 50140
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | palma | palmela |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | face interna e côncava da mão | dobradiça, charneira |
Where the eye mixes palma and palmela
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. palma runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against palmela's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses palma with palmela
A purely visual mix-up. palma (/ˈpaɫ.mɐ/) and palmela (/pal.'mɛ.lɐ/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50140, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
palma is recorded at frequency rank #6,567, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpaɫ.mɐ/. palmela is at rank #43,573, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pal.'mɛ.lɐ/.
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 50140, this pair ranks #14,840 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of palma vs palmela
Shared letters: almp. Private to "palma": -. Private to "palmela": e.
"palma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "palmela" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "palma" and "palmela" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "palma" vs "palmela" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "palma" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "palmela" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #14,840 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "palma" and "palmela" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paleta vs palmela". 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 #14,840 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.