pêlovspulsoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#26,526
“pêlo” frequency rank
#8,944
“pulso” frequency rank
35470
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pêlo pulso
Definition vide pelo parte do antebraço junto à mão

Where the eye mixes pêlo and pulso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
pêlo
5 ch
pulso

Look-alike desk: pêlo vs pulso

A purely visual mix-up. pêlo (/ˈpe.lu/) and pulso (/ˈpuɫ.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 35470, 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/. pulso is at rank #8,944, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpuɫ.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 35470, this pair ranks #31,575 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pêlo vs pulso

Shared letters: lop. Private to "pêlo": ê. Private to "pulso": su.

"pêlo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pulso" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pulsopluso · ppulso · pullso · pulos · pulsso · puslo · uplso

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pêlo" and "pulso" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpe.lu/ versus /ˈpuɫ.su/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pêlo" vs "pulso" - which ranks higher?
"pulso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,944 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

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 "pulso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #31,575 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pêlo" and "pulso" 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 #31,575 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