piãovsprisãoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#35,727
“pião” frequency rank
#834
“prisão” frequency rank
36561
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pião prisão
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 ato ou efeito de prender

Letter map: pião vs prisão

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

4 ch
pião
6 ch
prisão

Corpus notes: pião and prisão

pião and prisão 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 36561, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pião is recorded at frequency rank #35,727, classified as anoun. prisão is at rank #834, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɾi.ˈzɐ̃w̃/.

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 36561, this pair ranks #30,215 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pião vs prisão

Shared letters: iopã. Private to "pião": -. Private to "prisão": rs.

"pião" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "prisão" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pião" and "prisão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
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.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "pião" or "prisão" show up more?
"prisão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #834 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.

After this comparison

Pair "pião" vs "prisão" 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 "prisão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,215 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pião" and "prisão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pião vs pix". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #30,215 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