pilhavspolaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#9,233
“pilha” frequency rank
#42,156
“pola” frequency rank
51389
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pilha pola
Definition montão de coisas umas sobre as outras estaca

Where the eye mixes pilha and pola

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pilha runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against pola's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
pilha
4 ch
pola

Look-alike desk: pilha vs pola

A purely visual mix-up. pilha (/ˈpi.ʎɐ/) and pola (/'pɔ.la/ para o ramo da àrvore) 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 51389, 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/. pola is at rank #42,156, tagged as anoun, pronounced /'pɔ.la/ para o ramo da àrvore.

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 51389, this pair ranks #13,652 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pilha vs pola

Shared letters: alp. Private to "pilha": hi. Private to "pola": o.

"pilha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pola" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pilha ← iplha · pihla · pilah · pilhha · pillha · pliha · ppilha
  • pola ← opla · ploa · poal · polla · ppola

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pilha" and "pola" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpi.ʎɐ/ versus /'pɔ.la/ para o ramo da àrvore) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pilha" vs "pola" - which ranks higher?
"pilha" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,233 in our Portuguese list, against #42,156 for "pola". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "pilha" and "pola" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pilha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pola" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,652 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pilha" and "pola" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pola vs Poland". 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 #13,652 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