par vs pau, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#2,060
“par” frequency rank: #2,492
“pau” frequency rank: 4552
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	par	pau
Definition	diz-se dos números divisíveis por 2	bastão de madeira

Where the eye mixes par and pau

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch

par

3 ch

pau

Look-alike desk: par vs pau

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: par is /paχ/ while pau is /ˈpaw/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “par” becomes u in “pau”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4552, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

par is recorded at frequency rank #2,060, classified as anadj, pronounced /paχ/. pau is at rank #2,492, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpaw/.

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 4552, this pair ranks #70,321 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of par vs pau

Shared letters: ap. Private to "par": r. Private to "pau": u.

"par" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "pau" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "par" and "pau" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "par" is an adjective and "pau" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "par" or "pau"?

"par" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,060 in our Portuguese list, against #2,492 for "pau". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

Full dictionary entry for "par" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "pau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #70,321 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"par" and "pau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pau vs pix". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #70,321 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.