Which to use
“pavão” and “puxão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,519
- “pavão” frequency rank
- #39,818
- “puxão” frequency rank
- 59337
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pavão | puxão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pendão, flor masculina do milho | puxada forte e repentina |
Where the eye mixes pavão and puxão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between pavão and puxão
A purely visual mix-up. pavão (/pa.'boŋ/) and puxão (/pu.ˈʃɐ̃w̃/) 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 59337, 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/. puxão is at rank #39,818, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pu.ˈʃɐ̃w̃/.
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 59337, this pair ranks #8,235 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pavão vs puxão
Shared letters: opã. Private to "pavão": av. Private to "puxão": ux.
"pavão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "puxão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pavão" for "puxão" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "pavão" or "puxão" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pavão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "puxão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #8,235 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pavão" and "puxão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pilão vs puxão". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #8,235 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.