Which to use
“pinho” and “piolho” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,178
- “pinho” frequency rank
- #32,316
- “piolho” frequency rank
- 47494
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pinho | piolho |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | árvore do gênero das Pinus, de folhas aciculares que perduram todo o ano | inseto parasita que suga o sangue de vertebrados e lhes transmite várias doenças |
Where the eye mixes pinho and piolho
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pinho runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against piolho's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses pinho with piolho
A purely visual mix-up. pinho (/ˈpi.ɲu/) and piolho (/ˈpjo.ʎu/) 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 47494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pinho is recorded at frequency rank #15,178, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpi.ɲu/. piolho is at rank #32,316, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpjo.ʎu/.
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 47494, this pair ranks #17,745 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pinho vs piolho
Shared letters: hiop. Private to "pinho": n. Private to "piolho": l.
"pinho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "piolho" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pinho" for "piolho" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pinho" or "piolho"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pinho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "piolho" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #17,745 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pinho" and "piolho" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pilão vs piolho". 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 #17,745 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.