Which to use
“pilão” and “piolho” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,522
- “pilão” frequency rank
- #32,316
- “piolho” frequency rank
- 77838
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pilão | piolho |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mão do almofariz | inseto parasita que suga o sangue de vertebrados e lhes transmite várias doenças |
Where the eye mixes pilão and piolho
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pilão runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against piolho's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses pilão with piolho
A purely visual mix-up. pilão (/pi.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) and piolho (/ˈpjo.ʎu/) 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 77838, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pilão is recorded at frequency rank #45,522, classified as anoun, pronounced /pi.ˈlɐ̃w̃/. piolho is at rank #32,316, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpjo.ʎu/.
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 77838, this pair ranks #1,787 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pilão vs piolho
Shared letters: ilop. Private to "pilão": ã. Private to "piolho": h.
"pilão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "piolho" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- piolho ← ipolho · piloho · piohlo · piolhho · piollho · pioloh · poilho · ppiolho
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pilão" and "piolho" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "pilão" or "piolho"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pilão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "piolho" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,787 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pilão" and "piolho" 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 #1,787 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.