palovspátioWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,711
“palo” frequency rank
#5,990
“pátio” frequency rank
41701
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature palo pátio
Definition incêndio, fogo: recinto descoberto no interior de uma casa

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
palo
5 ch
pátio

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. palo (/ˈpɑ.lo̞/) and pátio (/ˈpa.tju/) 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 41701, 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/. pátio is at rank #5,990, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpa.tju/.

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 41701, this pair ranks #24,179 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of palo vs pátio

Shared letters: op. Private to "palo": al. Private to "pátio": itá.

"palo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pátio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paloaplo · pallo · paol · plao · ppalo

Frequency comparison

palo#35,711
pátio#5,990

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "palo" and "pátio" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpɑ.lo̞/ versus /ˈpa.tju/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "palo" or "pátio"?
"pátio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,990 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 pátio

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