Which to use
“pilão” and “puxão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,522
- “pilão” frequency rank
- #39,818
- “puxão” frequency rank
- 85340
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pilão | puxão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mão do almofariz | puxada forte e repentina |
Where the eye mixes pilão and puxão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pilão and puxão follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between pilão and puxão
A purely visual mix-up. pilão (/pi.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) and puxão (/pu.ˈʃɐ̃w̃/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85340, 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/. puxão is at rank #39,818, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pu.ˈʃɐ̃w̃/.
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 85340, this pair ranks #702 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pilão vs puxão
Shared letters: opã. Private to "pilão": il. Private to "puxão": ux.
"pilão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "puxão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pilão" and "puxão" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "pilão" vs "puxão" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "puxão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #702 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pilão" and "puxão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pilão vs platô". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #702 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.