peãovspregoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,423
“peão” frequency rank
#17,890
“prego” frequency rank
33313
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature peão prego
Definition empregado sem subordinados que atua em diversas atividades, como agropecuária e construção civil objeto com corpo cilíndrico com uma das extremidades pontiaguda e outra achatada, usado para ser enfiado em paredes ou para unir duas peças (especialmente de madeira)

Where the eye mixes peão and prego

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. peão runs 4 letters (CVVV) against prego's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
peão
5 ch
prego

Visual trap between peão and prego

A purely visual mix-up. peão (/ˈpjɐ̃w̃/) and prego (/ˈpɾɛ.gu/) 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 33313, 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/. prego is at rank #17,890, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɾɛ.gu/.

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 33313, this pair ranks #34,228 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of peão vs prego

Shared letters: eop. Private to "peão": ã. Private to "prego": gr.

"peão" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "prego" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prego ← pergo · pprego · preggo · preog · prgeo · prrego · rpego

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "peão" and "prego" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpjɐ̃w̃/ versus /ˈpɾɛ.gu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "peão" vs "prego" - which ranks higher?
"peão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,423 in our Portuguese list, against #17,890 for "prego". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "peão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prego" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #34,228 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "peão" and "prego" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peão vs pilão". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #34,228 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