Which to use
“pelado” is an adjective and “pilão” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,601
- “pelado” frequency rank
- #45,522
- “pilão” frequency rank
- 63123
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pelado | pilão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sem pelo | mão do almofariz |
Where the eye mixes pelado and pilão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pelado runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against pilão's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between pelado and pilão
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pelado is /pe.ˈla.du/ while pilão is /pi.ˈlɐ̃w̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63123, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pelado is recorded at frequency rank #17,601, classified as anadj, pronounced /pe.ˈla.du/. pilão is at rank #45,522, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pi.ˈlɐ̃w̃/.
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 63123, this pair ranks #6,345 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pelado vs pilão
Shared letters: lop. Private to "pelado": ade. Private to "pilão": iã.
"pelado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "pilão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pelado ← eplado · pealdo · peladdo · pelaod · peldao · pellado · pleado · ppelado
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pelado" and "pilão" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "pelado" or "pilão" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pelado" and "pilão" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pelado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pilão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #6,345 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pelado" and "pilão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pilão vs platô". 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 #6,345 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.