Which to use
“pan” is a noun and “plano” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,573
- “pan” frequency rank
- #571
- “plano” frequency rank
- 5144
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pan | plano |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | a designação, dirigindo-se a uma pessoa pelo seu nome, apelido, título ou profissão; Sr. | liso, sem maiores desníveis, nivelado |
Where the eye mixes pan and plano
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pan with plano
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pan is /ˈpan while plano is /ˈplɐ.nu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5144, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pan is recorded at frequency rank #4,573, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpan. plano is at rank #571, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈplɐ.nu/.
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 5144, this pair ranks #69,549 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pan vs plano
Shared letters: anp. Private to "pan": -. Private to "plano": lo.
"pan" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "plano" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- plano ← lpano · palno · planno · plaon · pllano · plnao · pplano
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pan" and "plano" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "pan" or "plano" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "plano" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #69,549 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pan" and "plano" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pan vs pix". 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 #69,549 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.