pelevspieWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,654
“pele” frequency rank
#26,145
“pie” frequency rank
27799
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pele pie
Definition tecido que reveste externamente o corpo humano e o de muitos animais; couro

Where the eye mixes pele and pie

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
pele
3 ch
pie

Look-alike desk: pele vs pie

A purely visual mix-up. pele (/ˈpɛ.li/) and pie ([ pje ]) 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 27799, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pele is recorded at frequency rank #1,654, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛ.li/. pie is at rank #26,145, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ pje ].

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 27799, this pair ranks #41,127 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pele vs pie

Shared letters: ep. Private to "pele": l. Private to "pie": i.

"pele" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pie" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • peleeple · peel · pelle · plee · ppele

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pele" and "pie" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpɛ.li/ versus [ pje ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pele" vs "pie" - which ranks higher?
"pele" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,654 in our Portuguese list, against #26,145 for "pie". 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 "pele" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #41,127 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pele" and "pie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pie 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 #41,127 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