piãovspinhãoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#35,727
“pião” frequency rank
#31,497
“pinhão” frequency rank
67224
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pião pinhão
Definition brinquedo que consiste em puxar uma corda enrolada a um objeto afunilado, geralmente de madeira ou plástico e com uma ponta de ferro, colocando-o em rotação no solo, mantendo-se erguido o fruto do pinheiro-manso

Letter map: pião vs pinhão

Shared letters muted; letters that set pião and pinhão apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. pião runs 4 letters (CVVV) against pinhão's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
pião
6 ch
pinhão

Spelling & dictionary notes on pião vs pinhão

pião and pinhão are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pião is recorded at frequency rank #35,727, classified as anoun. pinhão is at rank #31,497, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pi.ˈɲɐ̃w̃/.

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 67224, this pair ranks #4,714 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pião vs pinhão

Shared letters: iopã. Private to "pião": -. Private to "pinhão": hn.

"pião" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "pinhão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pião" for "pinhão" ever safe?
No. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "pião" or "pinhão"?
"pinhão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,497 in our Portuguese list, against #35,727 for "pião". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "pião" vs "pinhão" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pião" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pinhão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,714 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pião" and "pinhão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pião vs pix". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #4,714 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