pilhavspistaTell them apart

Which to use

“pilha” and “pista” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,233
“pilha” frequency rank
#1,903
“pista” frequency rank
11136
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pilha pista
Definition montão de coisas umas sobre as outras parte de um campo de aviação onde aterram e donde levantam aeronaves

Where the eye mixes pilha and pista

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
pilha
5 ch
pista

Look-alike desk: pilha vs pista

A purely visual mix-up. pilha (/ˈpi.ʎɐ/) and pista (/ˈpiʃ.tɐ/) 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 11136, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pilha is recorded at frequency rank #9,233, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpi.ʎɐ/. pista is at rank #1,903, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpiʃ.tɐ/.

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 11136, this pair ranks #61,782 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pilha vs pista

Shared letters: aip. Private to "pilha": hl. Private to "pista": st.

"pilha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pista" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pilhaiplha · pihla · pilah · pilhha · pillha · pliha · ppilha
  • pistaipsta · pisat · pissta · pistta · pitsa · ppista · psita

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pilha" and "pista" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpi.ʎɐ/ versus /ˈpiʃ.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pilha" vs "pista" - which ranks higher?
"pista" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,903 in our Portuguese list, against #9,233 for "pilha". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pilha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pista" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,782 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pilha" and "pista" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pilão vs pilha". 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 #61,782 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list