Which to use
“piolho” and “polvo” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,316
- “piolho” frequency rank
- #17,610
- “polvo” frequency rank
- 49926
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | piolho | polvo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | inseto parasita que suga o sangue de vertebrados e lhes transmite várias doenças | pó, poeira |
Where the eye mixes piolho and polvo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. piolho runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against polvo's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses piolho with polvo
A purely visual mix-up. piolho (/ˈpjo.ʎu/) and polvo (/ˈpɔl.vɔ/) 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 49926, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
piolho is recorded at frequency rank #32,316, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpjo.ʎu/. polvo is at rank #17,610, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɔl.vɔ/.
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 49926, this pair ranks #15,053 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of piolho vs polvo
Shared letters: lop. Private to "piolho": hi. Private to "polvo": v.
"piolho" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "polvo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "piolho" and "polvo" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "piolho" vs "polvo" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "piolho" and "polvo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "piolho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "polvo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,053 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "piolho" and "polvo" 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 #15,053 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.