pedravspedrãoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,653
“pedra” frequency rank
#41,177
“pedrão” frequency rank
42830
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pedra pedrão
Definition corpo duro e compacto que forma as rochas pedrão grande

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pedra and pedrão apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
pedra
6 ch
pedrão

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

pedra and pedrão are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42830, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pedra is recorded at frequency rank #1,653, classified as anoun. pedrão is at rank #41,177, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pe.'dɾoŋ/.

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 42830, this pair ranks #22,882 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pedra vs pedrão

Shared letters: depr. Private to "pedra": a. Private to "pedrão": .

"pedra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pedrão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pedraepdra · pdera · pedar · peddra · pedrra · ppedra

Frequency comparison

pedra#1,653
pedrão#41,177

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pedra" and "pedrão" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "pedra" or "pedrão"?
"pedra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,653 in our Portuguese list, against #41,177 for "pedrão". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering pedra vs pedrão

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pedra” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list