Which to use
“pavão” and “pilão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,519
- “pavão” frequency rank
- #45,522
- “pilão” frequency rank
- 65041
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pavão | pilão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pendão, flor masculina do milho | mão do almofariz |
Where the eye mixes pavão and pilão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pavão and pilão follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses pavão with pilão
A purely visual mix-up. pavão (/pa.'boŋ/) and pilão (/pi.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65041, 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/. pilão is at rank #45,522, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pi.ˈlɐ̃w̃/.
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 65041, this pair ranks #5,547 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pavão vs pilão
Shared letters: opã. Private to "pavão": av. Private to "pilão": il.
"pavão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "pilão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pavão" and "pilão" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "pavão" or "pilão" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "pavão" and "pilão" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pavão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pilão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #5,547 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pavão" and "pilão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pilão vs platô". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #5,547 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.