pão vs pó, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#1,942
“pão” frequency rank: #3,718
“pó” frequency rank: 5660
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	pão	pó
Definition	alimento à base de farinha amassada, fermentada e assada em forno	parte da terra formada por pequenos grânulos

Where the eye mixes pão and pó

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. pão runs 3 letters (CVV) against pó's 2 (CV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch

pão

2 ch

pó

Why the eye confuses pão with pó

A purely visual mix-up. pão (/ˈpɐ̃w̃/) and pó (/ˈpɔ/) 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 5660, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pão is recorded at frequency rank #1,942, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɐ̃w̃/. pó is at rank #3,718, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɔ/.

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 5660, this pair ranks #68,918 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pão vs pó

Shared letters: p. Private to "pão": oã. Private to "pó": ó.

"pão" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "pó" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pão" and "pó" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently (/ˈpɐ̃w̃/ versus /ˈpɔ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Frequency check: "pão" vs "pó" - which ranks higher?

"pão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,942 in our Portuguese list, against #3,718 for "pó". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "pão" and "pó" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "pão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "pó" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #68,918 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"pão" and "pó" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pix vs pó". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #68,918 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.