Which to use
“palmo” and “polvo” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,647
- “palmo” frequency rank
- #17,610
- “polvo” frequency rank
- 59257
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | palmo | polvo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | medida igual à distância entre as extremidades dos dedos polegar e mínimo de uma mão aberta | pó, poeira |
Where the eye mixes palmo and polvo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses palmo with polvo
A purely visual mix-up. palmo (/ˈpaɫ.mu/) and polvo (/ˈpɔl.vɔ/) 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 59257, 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/. polvo is at rank #17,610, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɔl.vɔ/.
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 59257, this pair ranks #8,282 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of palmo vs polvo
Shared letters: lop. Private to "palmo": am. Private to "polvo": v.
"palmo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "polvo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "palmo" and "polvo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "palmo" or "polvo"?
What to do next
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 "polvo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #8,282 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "palmo" and "polvo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "palmo vs pilão". 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 #8,282 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.