pião vs plano, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“pião” is a noun and “plano” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,727
“pião” frequency rank: #571
“plano” frequency rank: 36298
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	pião	plano
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	liso, sem maiores desníveis, nivelado

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pião and plano apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

pião

5 ch

plano

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: pião is anoun and planoanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36298, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pião is recorded at frequency rank #35,727, classified as anoun. plano is at rank #571, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈplɐ.nu/.

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 36298, this pair ranks #30,553 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pião vs plano

Shared letters: op. Private to "pião": iã. Private to "plano": aln.

"pião" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "plano" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

plano ← lpano · palno · planno · plaon · pllano · plnao · pplano

Frequency comparison

pião#35,727

plano#571

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pião" and "plano" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pião" is a noun and "plano" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "pião" or "plano"?

"plano" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #571 in our Portuguese list, against #35,727 for "pião". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering pião vs plano

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “pião”; for an adjective, it's “plano”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pião” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable