vspesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#878
“pé” frequency rank
#23,445
“pes” frequency rank
24323
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pes
Definition extremidade dos membros inferiores do corpo humano, responsável pelo equilíbrio cão

Where the eye mixes pé and pes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
pé
3 ch
pes

Visual trap between pé and pes

A purely visual mix-up. (/ˈpɛ/) and pes (/ˈpɛs ouvir^(fonte ?)) 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 24323, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

is recorded at frequency rank #878, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛ/. pes is at rank #23,445, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛs ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 24323, this pair ranks #45,321 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pé vs pes

Shared letters: p. Private to "pé": é. Private to "pes": es.

"pé" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "pes" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pé" for "pes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpɛ/ versus /ˈpɛs ouvir^(fonte ?)) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pé" or "pes"?
"pé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #878 in our Portuguese list, against #23,445 for "pes". 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 "pé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #45,321 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pé" and "pes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pes vs pix". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #45,321 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