peãovspensãoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#15,423
“peão” frequency rank
#7,560
“pensão” frequency rank
22983
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature peão pensão
Definition empregado sem subordinados que atua em diversas atividades, como agropecuária e construção civil pagamento mensal, em um determinado prazo, onde uma pessoa paga outra

Where the eye mixes peão and pensão

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. peão runs 4 letters (CVVV) against pensão's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
peão
6 ch
pensão

Look-alike desk: peão vs pensão

A purely visual mix-up. peão (/ˈpjɐ̃w̃/) and pensão (/pẽ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22983, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

peão is recorded at frequency rank #15,423, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpjɐ̃w̃/. pensão is at rank #7,560, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pẽ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.

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 22983, this pair ranks #46,928 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of peão vs pensão

Shared letters: eopã. Private to "peão": -. Private to "pensão": ns.

"peão" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "pensão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "peão" for "pensão" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpjɐ̃w̃/ versus /pẽ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "peão" or "pensão" show up more?
"pensão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,560 in our Portuguese list, against #15,423 for "peão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "peão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pensão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #46,928 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "peão" and "pensão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peão vs pilão". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #46,928 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