papovspasmoConfusable pair

Quick tell: papo is a noun, pasmo is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“papo” is a noun and “pasmo” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,897
“papo” frequency rank
#42,145
“pasmo” frequency rank
45042
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature papo pasmo
Definition dilatação existente no esôfago da maioria das aves espantado

Where the eye mixes papo and pasmo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
papo
5 ch
pasmo

Look-alike desk: papo vs pasmo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: papo is /ˈpa.pu/ while pasmo is /ˈpaʒ.mu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 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 45042, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

papo is recorded at frequency rank #2,897, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpa.pu/. 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 45042, this pair ranks #20,389 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of papo vs pasmo

Shared letters: aop. Private to "papo": -. Private to "pasmo": ms.

"papo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pasmo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • papoappo · paop · pappo · ppao · ppapo
  • pasmoapsmo · pamso · pasmmo · pasom · passmo · ppasmo · psamo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "papo" for "pasmo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "papo" is a noun and "pasmo" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "papo" vs "pasmo" - which ranks higher?
"papo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,897 in our Portuguese list, against #42,145 for "pasmo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "papo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pasmo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,389 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "papo" and "pasmo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pasmo vs pomo". 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 #20,389 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list