Which to use
“pato” is an adjective and “poço” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,330
- “pato” frequency rank
- #5,129
- “poço” frequency rank
- 11459
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pato | poço |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | empatado | buraco fundo, geralmente circular, cavado no chão, com o objetivo de encontrar água |
Where the eye mixes pato and poço
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pato with poço
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pato is /ˈpa.tʊ/ while poço is /ˈpo.su/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11459, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pato is recorded at frequency rank #6,330, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpa.tʊ/. poço is at rank #5,129, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpo.su/.
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 11459, this pair ranks #61,369 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pato vs poço
Shared letters: op. Private to "pato": at. Private to "poço": ç.
"pato" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "poço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pato ← apto · paot · patto · ppato · ptao
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pato" for "poço" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "pato" or "poço" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pato" and "poço" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pato" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poço" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #61,369 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pato" and "poço" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pato vs Pluto". 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 #61,369 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.