Which to use
“pilão” and “pira” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,522
- “pilão” frequency rank
- #22,419
- “pira” frequency rank
- 67941
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pilão | pira |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mão do almofariz | pira |
Where the eye mixes pilão and pira
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. pilão runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against pira's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between pilão and pira
A purely visual mix-up. pilão (/pi.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) and pira (/'pira/.) 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 67941, 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/. pira is at rank #22,419, tagged as anoun, pronounced /'pira/..
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 67941, this pair ranks #4,445 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pilão vs pira
Shared letters: ip. Private to "pilão": loã. Private to "pira": ar.
"pilão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "pira" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pira ← ipra · piar · pirra · ppira · pria
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pilão" and "pira" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "pilão" or "pira" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "pilão" and "pira" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pilão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pira" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #4,445 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pilão" and "pira" 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 #4,445 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.