Which to use
“pes” and “peste” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,445
- “pes” frequency rank
- #10,061
- “peste” frequency rank
- 33506
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pes | peste |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cão | epidemia grave |
Where the eye mixes pes and peste
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pes runs 3 letters (CVC) against peste's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses pes with peste
A purely visual mix-up. pes (/ˈpɛs ouvir^(fonte ?)) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “pes” sits inside “peste”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33506, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pes is recorded at frequency rank #23,445, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɛs ouvir^(fonte ?). 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 33506, this pair ranks #33,999 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pes vs peste
Shared letters: eps. Private to "pes": -. Private to "peste": t.
"pes" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "peste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- peste ← epste · peset · pesste · pestte · petse · ppeste · psete
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pes" and "peste" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "pes" or "peste"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pes" and "peste" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pes" 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 #33,999 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pes" and "peste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pes vs pix". 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 #33,999 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.