Which to use
“palmo” and “pilão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,647
- “palmo” frequency rank
- #45,522
- “pilão” frequency rank
- 87169
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | palmo | pilão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | medida igual à distância entre as extremidades dos dedos polegar e mínimo de uma mão aberta | mão do almofariz |
Where the eye mixes palmo and pilão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. palmo (CVCCV) and pilão (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses palmo with pilão
A purely visual mix-up. palmo (/ˈpaɫ.mu/) and pilão (/pi.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87169, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
palmo is recorded at frequency rank #41,647, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpaɫ.mu/. pilão is at rank #45,522, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pi.ˈlɐ̃w̃/.
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 87169, this pair ranks #511 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of palmo vs pilão
Shared letters: lop. Private to "palmo": am. Private to "pilão": iã.
"palmo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "pilão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- palmo ← aplmo · pallmo · palmmo · palom · pamlo · plamo · ppalmo
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "palmo" and "pilão" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "palmo" or "pilão" show up more?
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 "palmo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pilão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #511 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "palmo" and "pilão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pilão vs platô". 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 #511 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.