papãovspasmoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#24,749
“papão” frequency rank
#42,145
“pasmo” frequency rank
66894
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature papão pasmo
Definition que papa muito espantado

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set papão and pasmo apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
papão
5 ch
pasmo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. papão (/pɐ.ˈpɐ̃w̃/) and pasmo (/ˈpaʒ.mu/) 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 66894, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

papão is recorded at frequency rank #24,749, classified as anadj, pronounced /pɐ.ˈpɐ̃w̃/. pasmo is at rank #42,145, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpaʒ.mu/.

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 66894, this pair ranks #4,819 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of papão vs pasmo

Shared letters: aop. Private to "papão": ã. Private to "pasmo": ms.

"papão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "pasmo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasmoapsmo · pamso · pasmmo · pasom · passmo · ppasmo · psamo

Frequency comparison

papão#24,749
pasmo#42,145

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "papão" and "pasmo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/pɐ.ˈpɐ̃w̃/ versus /ˈpaʒ.mu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "papão" or "pasmo"?
"papão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,749 in our Portuguese list, against #42,145 for "pasmo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering papão vs pasmo

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 “papão” 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