patavspazConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#15,417
“pata” frequency rank
#453
“paz” frequency rank
15870
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pata paz
Definition a fêmea do pato estado de coisas que se caracteriza pela harmonia entre os elementos que nele habitam

Where the eye mixes pata and paz

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

4 ch
pata
3 ch
paz

Look-alike desk: pata vs paz

A purely visual mix-up. pata (/ˈpa.tɐ/) and paz (/ˈpaʃ/) 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 15870, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pata is recorded at frequency rank #15,417, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpa.tɐ/. paz is at rank #453, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpaʃ/.

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 15870, this pair ranks #55,855 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pata vs paz

Shared letters: ap. Private to "pata": t. Private to "paz": z.

"pata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "paz" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pataapta · paat · patta · ppata · ptaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pata" for "paz" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpa.tɐ/ versus /ˈpaʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pata" vs "paz" - which ranks higher?
"paz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #453 in our Portuguese list, against #15,417 for "pata". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pata" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "paz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #55,855 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pata" and "paz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pastar vs pata". 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 #55,855 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