Which to use
“pedrão” and “pensão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,177
- “pedrão” frequency rank
- #7,560
- “pensão” frequency rank
- 48737
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pedrão | pensão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pedrão grande | pagamento mensal, em um determinado prazo, onde uma pessoa paga outra |
Where the eye mixes pedrão and pensão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pedrão and pensão follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between pedrão and pensão
A purely visual mix-up. pedrão (/pe.'dɾoŋ/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48737, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pedrão is recorded at frequency rank #41,177, classified as anoun, pronounced /pe.'dɾoŋ/. 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 48737, this pair ranks #16,413 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pedrão vs pensão
Shared letters: eopã. Private to "pedrão": dr. Private to "pensão": ns.
"pedrão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "pensão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pedrão" for "pensão" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pedrão" vs "pensão" - which ranks higher?
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 "pedrão" 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 #16,413 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pedrão" and "pensão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pedrão vs Petro". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #16,413 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.