pêlo vs pilão, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#26,526
“pêlo” frequency rank: #45,522
“pilão” frequency rank: 72048
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	pêlo	pilão
Definition	vide pelo	mão do almofariz

Where the eye mixes pêlo and pilão

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

4 ch

pêlo

5 ch

pilão

Visual trap between pêlo and pilão

A purely visual mix-up. pêlo (/ˈpe.lu/) and pilão (/pi.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) 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 72048, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pêlo is recorded at frequency rank #26,526, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpe.lu/. 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 72048, this pair ranks #3,174 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pêlo vs pilão

Shared letters: lop. Private to "pêlo": ê. Private to "pilão": iã.

"pêlo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "pilão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pêlo" and "pilão" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently (/ˈpe.lu/ versus /pi.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "pêlo" or "pilão"?

"pêlo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,526 in our Portuguese list, against #45,522 for "pilão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "pêlo" 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 #3,174 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"pêlo" and "pilão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pilão vs platô". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #3,174 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.