pêlovspregoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#26,526
“pêlo” frequency rank
#17,890
“prego” frequency rank
44416
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pêlo prego
Definition vide pelo objeto com corpo cilíndrico com uma das extremidades pontiaguda e outra achatada, usado para ser enfiado em paredes ou para unir duas peças (especialmente de madeira)

Where the eye mixes pêlo and prego

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

4 ch
pêlo
5 ch
prego

Look-alike desk: pêlo vs prego

A purely visual mix-up. pêlo (/ˈpe.lu/) and prego (/ˈpɾɛ.gu/) 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 44416, 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/. prego is at rank #17,890, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɾɛ.gu/.

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 44416, this pair ranks #21,076 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pêlo vs prego

Shared letters: op. Private to "pêlo": . Private to "prego": egr.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pregopergo · pprego · preggo · preog · prgeo · prrego · rpego

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pêlo" and "prego" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpe.lu/ versus /ˈpɾɛ.gu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pêlo" or "prego"?
"prego" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,890 in our Portuguese list, against #26,526 for "pêlo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "pêlo" and "prego" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pêlo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prego" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #21,076 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pêlo" and "prego" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pêlo vs pilão". 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 #21,076 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