pinhovspiolhoWhat's the difference?

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pinho and piolho apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
pinho
6 ch
piolho

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

  • pinhoipnho · pihno · pinhho · pinnho · pinoh · pniho · ppinho
  • piolhoipolho · piloho · piohlo · piolhho · piollho · pioloh · poilho · ppiolho

Frequency comparison

pinho#15,178
piolho#32,316

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pinho" and "piolho" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpi.ɲu/ versus /ˈpjo.ʎu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pinho" or "piolho"?
"pinho" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,178 in our Portuguese list, against #32,316 for "piolho". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pinho vs piolho

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pinho” 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