pilãovspisarWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pilão is a noun, pisar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pilão” is a noun and “pisar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,522
“pilão” frequency rank
#11,125
“pisar” frequency rank
56647
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pilão pisar
Definition mão do almofariz colocar os pés sobre

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
pilão
5 ch
pisar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pilão is /pi.ˈlɐ̃w̃/ while pisar is /pi.ˈzaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56647, 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/. pisar is at rank #11,125, tagged as averb, pronounced /pi.ˈzaɾ/.

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 56647, this pair ranks #9,834 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pilão vs pisar

Shared letters: ip. Private to "pilão": loã. Private to "pisar": ars.

"pilão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "pisar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pisaripsar · piasr · pisarr · pisra · pissar · ppisar · psiar

Frequency comparison

pilão#45,522
pisar#11,125

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pilão" and "pisar" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pilão" is a noun and "pisar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pilão" or "pisar"?
"pisar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,125 in our Portuguese list, against #45,522 for "pilão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pilão vs pisar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list