peixevspeleWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,341
“peixe” frequency rank
#1,654
“pele” frequency rank
3995
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature peixe pele
Definition animal aquático pecilotérmico, dotado de corpo fusiforme, nadadeiras e guelras tecido que reveste externamente o corpo humano e o de muitos animais; couro

Where the eye mixes peixe and pele

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

5 ch
peixe
4 ch
pele

Look-alike desk: peixe vs pele

A purely visual mix-up. peixe (/ˈpej.ʃi/ plural: /ˈpej.ʃis/ ou /ˈpej.ʃiʃ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3995, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

peixe is recorded at frequency rank #2,341, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpej.ʃi/ plural: /ˈpej.ʃis/ ou /ˈpej.ʃiʃ/. 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 3995, this pair ranks #71,047 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of peixe vs pele

Shared letters: ep. Private to "peixe": ix. Private to "pele": l.

"peixe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "pele" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • peixe ← epixe · peiex · peixxe · pexie · piexe · ppeixe
  • pele ← eple · peel · pelle · plee · ppele

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "peixe" and "pele" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpej.ʃi/ plural: /ˈpej.ʃis/ ou /ˈpej.ʃiʃ/ versus /ˈpɛ.li/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "peixe" or "pele" show up more?
"pele" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,654 in our Portuguese list, against #2,341 for "peixe". 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 "peixe" 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 #71,047 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "peixe" and "pele" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peixe vs pix". 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 #71,047 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