peidovsperíodoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#26,836
“peido” frequency rank
#540
“período” frequency rank
27376
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature peido período
Definition gases intestinais, mais ou menos ruidosos, expelidos pelo ânus; flato intervalo de tempo decorrido entre dois momentos, acontecimentos ou datas

Where the eye mixes peido and período

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. peido runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against período's 7 (CVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
peido
7 ch
período

Why the eye confuses peido with período

A purely visual mix-up. peido (/ˈpɐj.du/) and período ([p(ɨ)ɾi'uðu] (nunca de acordo com a grafia: [p(ɨ)'ɾiwðu])) 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 27376, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

peido is recorded at frequency rank #26,836, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɐj.du/. período is at rank #540, tagged as anoun, pronounced [p(ɨ)ɾi'uðu] (nunca de acordo com a grafia: [p(ɨ)'ɾiwðu]).

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 27376, this pair ranks #41,588 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of peido vs período

Shared letters: deop. Private to "peido": i. Private to "período": rí.

"peido" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "período" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • peido ← epido · pedio · peiod · piedo · ppeido

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "peido" and "período" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpɐj.du/ versus [p(ɨ)ɾi'uðu] (nunca de acordo com a grafia: [p(ɨ)'ɾiwðu])) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "peido" vs "período" - which ranks higher?
"período" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #540 in our Portuguese list, against #26,836 for "peido". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "peido" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "período" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #41,588 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "peido" and "período" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peido vs pito". 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 #41,588 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