Which to use
“pente” and “peste” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,363
- “pente” frequency rank
- #10,061
- “peste” frequency rank
- 26424
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pente | peste |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | objeto usado para pentear o cabelo | epidemia grave |
Where the eye mixes pente and peste
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pente and peste follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between pente and peste
A purely visual mix-up. pente (/ˈpẽ.tɨ/) and peste (/ˈpɛʃ.tɨ/) 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 a single letter - n in “pente” becomes s in “peste”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26424, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pente is recorded at frequency rank #16,363, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpẽ.tɨ/. peste is at rank #10,061, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛʃ.tɨ/.
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 26424, this pair ranks #42,732 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pente vs peste
Shared letters: ept. Private to "pente": n. Private to "peste": s.
"pente" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "peste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pente" and "peste" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "pente" or "peste" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pente" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "peste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #42,732 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pente" and "peste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pedinte vs pente". 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 #42,732 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.