pedevspeleWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,581
“pede” frequency rank
#1,654
“pele” frequency rank
3235
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pede pele
Definition tecido que reveste externamente o corpo humano e o de muitos animais; couro

Where the eye mixes pede and pele

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
pede
4 ch
pele

Look-alike desk: pede vs pele

A purely visual mix-up. pede (/ˈpe.de/) and pele (/ˈpɛ.li/) 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 a single letter - d in “pede” becomes l in “pele”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3235, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pede is recorded at frequency rank #1,581, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpe.de/. pele is at rank #1,654, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛ.li/.

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 3235, this pair ranks #71,943 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pede vs pele

Shared letters: ep. Private to "pede": d. Private to "pele": l.

"pede" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pele" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pedeepde · pdee · pedde · peed · ppede
  • peleeple · peel · pelle · plee · ppele

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pede" and "pele" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpe.de/ versus /ˈpɛ.li/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "pede" or "pele" show up more?
"pede" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,581 in our Portuguese list, against #1,654 for "pele". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "pede" and "pele" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pede" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pele" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #71,943 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pede" and "pele" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pale vs pele". 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 #71,943 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