pavão vs pavio, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#19,519
“pavão” frequency rank: #38,849
“pavio” frequency rank: 58368
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	pavão	pavio
Definition	pendão, flor masculina do milho	cabo das velas, círios, candeias, mecha

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pavão and pavio apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

pavão

5 ch

pavio

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pavão (/pa.'boŋ/) and pavio (/pɐ.ˈvi.u/) 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 a single letter - ã in “pavão” becomes i in “pavio”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58368, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pavão is recorded at frequency rank #19,519, classified as anoun, pronounced /pa.'boŋ/. pavio is at rank #38,849, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɐ.ˈvi.u/.

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 58368, this pair ranks #8,783 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pavão vs pavio

Shared letters: aopv. Private to "pavão": ã. Private to "pavio": i.

"pavão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "pavio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

pavio ← apvio · paivo · pavoi · pavvio · ppavio · pvaio

Frequency comparison

pavão#19,519

pavio#38,849

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pavão" and "pavio" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/pa.'boŋ/ versus /pɐ.ˈvi.u/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "pavão" or "pavio"?

"pavão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,519 in our Portuguese list, against #38,849 for "pavio". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pavão vs pavio

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 “pavão” entry
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