Which to use
“pila” and “pilão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,424
- “pila” frequency rank
- #45,522
- “pilão” frequency rank
- 60946
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pila | pilão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | indivíduo inútil, vagabundo | mão do almofariz |
Where the eye mixes pila and pilão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pila runs 4 letters (CVCV) against pilão's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between pila and pilão
A purely visual mix-up. pila (/ˈpi.lɐ/) and pilão (/pi.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60946, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pila is recorded at frequency rank #15,424, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpi.lɐ/. pilão is at rank #45,522, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pi.ˈlɐ̃w̃/.
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 60946, this pair ranks #7,393 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pila vs pilão
Shared letters: ilp. Private to "pila": a. Private to "pilão": oã.
"pila" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "pilão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pila ← ipla · pial · pilla · plia · ppila
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pila" and "pilão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "pila" vs "pilão" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pila" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pilão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #7,393 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pila" and "pilão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pilão vs platô". 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 #7,393 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.