pêlovspreçoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#26,526
“pêlo” frequency rank
#996
“preço” frequency rank
27522
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pêlo preço
Definition vide pelo custo unitário de qualquer coisa que possa ser vendida

Where the eye mixes pêlo and preço

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. pêlo runs 4 letters (CVCV) against preço's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
pêlo
5 ch
preço

Look-alike desk: pêlo vs preço

A purely visual mix-up. pêlo (/ˈpe.lu/) and preço (/ˈpɾe.su/) 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 27522, 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/. preço is at rank #996, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɾe.su/.

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 27522, this pair ranks #41,431 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pêlo vs preço

Shared letters: op. Private to "pêlo": lê. Private to "preço": erç.

"pêlo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "preço" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pêlo" and "preço" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpe.lu/ versus /ˈpɾe.su/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "pêlo" or "preço" show up more?
"preço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #996 in our Portuguese list, against #26,526 for "pêlo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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 "preço" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #41,431 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pêlo" and "preço" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pêlo vs pilão". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #41,431 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