palovspathWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“palo” and “path” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#35,711
“palo” frequency rank
#25,422
“path” frequency rank
61133
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature palo path
Definition incêndio, fogo: caminho

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set palo and path apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
palo
4 ch
path

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. palo (/ˈpɑ.lo̞/) and path (/pæθ, pɑθ/) 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 61133, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

palo is recorded at frequency rank #35,711, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɑ.lo̞/. path is at rank #25,422, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pæθ, pɑθ/.

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 61133, this pair ranks #7,291 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of palo vs path

Shared letters: ap. Private to "palo": lo. Private to "path": ht.

"palo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "path" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paloaplo · pallo · paol · plao · ppalo
  • pathapth · paht · pathh · patth · ppath · ptah

Frequency comparison

palo#35,711
path#25,422

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "palo" and "path" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpɑ.lo̞/ versus /pæθ, pɑθ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "palo" or "path"?
"path" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,422 in our Portuguese list, against #35,711 for "palo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering palo vs path

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “palo” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list