Which to use
“palma” and “pola” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,567
- “palma” frequency rank
- #42,156
- “pola” frequency rank
- 48723
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | palma | pola |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | face interna e côncava da mão | estaca |
Where the eye mixes palma and pola
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: palma vs pola
A purely visual mix-up. palma (/ˈpaɫ.mɐ/) and pola (/'pɔ.la/ para o ramo da àrvore) 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 48723, 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/. pola is at rank #42,156, tagged as anoun, pronounced /'pɔ.la/ para o ramo da àrvore.
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 48723, this pair ranks #16,430 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of palma vs pola
Shared letters: alp. Private to "palma": m. Private to "pola": o.
"palma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "pola" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "palma" for "pola" ever safe?
Frequency check: "palma" vs "pola" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "palma" and "pola" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "palma" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pola" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #16,430 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "palma" and "pola" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pola vs Poland". 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 #16,430 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.