Which to use
“penha” and “pensão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,960
- “penha” frequency rank
- #7,560
- “pensão” frequency rank
- 15520
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | penha | pensão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | rocha, pedra grande na superfície da terra ou do mar | pagamento mensal, em um determinado prazo, onde uma pessoa paga outra |
Where the eye mixes penha and pensão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. penha runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against pensão's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between penha and pensão
A purely visual mix-up. penha (/ˈpɐj.ɲɐ/) and pensão (/pẽ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) 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 15520, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
penha is recorded at frequency rank #7,960, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɐj.ɲɐ/. pensão is at rank #7,560, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pẽ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.
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 15520, this pair ranks #56,280 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of penha vs pensão
Shared letters: enp. Private to "penha": ah. Private to "pensão": osã.
"penha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "pensão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- penha ← epnha · pehna · penah · penhha · pennha · pneha · ppenha
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "penha" and "pensão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "penha" vs "pensão" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "penha" and "pensão" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "penha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pensão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #56,280 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "penha" and "pensão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "penha vs penhor". 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 #56,280 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.