períodovspériploWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#540
“período” frequency rank
#48,079
“périplo” frequency rank
48619
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature período périplo
Definition intervalo de tempo decorrido entre dois momentos, acontecimentos ou datas viagem em que se retorna ao ponto de origem

Where the eye mixes período and périplo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. período (CVCVVCV) and périplo (CVCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
período
7 ch
périplo

Look-alike desk: período vs périplo

A purely visual mix-up. período ([p(ɨ)ɾi'uðu] (nunca de acordo com a grafia: [p(ɨ)'ɾiwðu])) and périplo (/ˈpɛ.ɾi.plu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48619, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

período is recorded at frequency rank #540, classified as anoun, pronounced [p(ɨ)ɾi'uðu] (nunca de acordo com a grafia: [p(ɨ)'ɾiwðu]). périplo is at rank #48,079, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛ.ɾi.plu/.

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 48619, this pair ranks #16,550 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of período vs périplo

Shared letters: opr. Private to "período": deí. Private to "périplo": ilé.

"período" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV  ·  "périplo" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "período" for "périplo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([p(ɨ)ɾi'uðu] (nunca de acordo com a grafia: [p(ɨ)'ɾiwðu]) versus /ˈpɛ.ɾi.plu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "período" or "périplo" show up more?
"período" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #540 in our Portuguese list, against #48,079 for "périplo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "período" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "périplo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,550 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "período" and "périplo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perigo vs périplo". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #16,550 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