Which to use
“palma” is a noun and “passa” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,567
- “palma” frequency rank
- #469
- “passa” frequency rank
- 7036
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | palma | passa |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | face interna e côncava da mão | expressa enxotadura direcionada a cão |
Where the eye mixes palma and passa
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: palma vs passa
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: palma is /ˈpaɫ.mɐ/ while passa is /ˈpa.sɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7036, 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/. passa is at rank #469, tagged as anintj, pronounced /ˈpa.sɐ/.
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 7036, this pair ranks #67,211 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of palma vs passa
Shared letters: ap. Private to "palma": lm. Private to "passa": s.
"palma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "passa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "palma" for "passa" ever safe?
Frequency check: "palma" vs "passa" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "passa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,211 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "palma" and "passa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pale vs palma". 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 #67,211 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.