piorvspudorWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#745
“pior” frequency rank
#24,438
“pudor” frequency rank
25183
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pior pudor
Definition o que é inferior a tudo o mais sentimento de vergonha, timidez, mal-estar produzido por tudo o que é contrário à modéstia

Where the eye mixes pior and pudor

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

4 ch
pior
5 ch
pudor

Why the eye confuses pior with pudor

A purely visual mix-up. pior (/pɪ.ˈɒɹ/) and pudor (/pu.ˈdoɾ/) 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 25183, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pior is recorded at frequency rank #745, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɪ.ˈɒɹ/. pudor is at rank #24,438, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pu.ˈdoɾ/.

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 25183, this pair ranks #44,189 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pior vs pudor

Shared letters: opr. Private to "pior": i. Private to "pudor": du.

"pior" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "pudor" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pior ← ipor · piorr · piro · poir · ppior
  • pudor ← pduor · ppudor · puddor · pudorr · pudro · puodr · updor

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pior" and "pudor" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/pɪ.ˈɒɹ/ versus /pu.ˈdoɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "pior" or "pudor" show up more?
"pior" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #745 in our Portuguese list, against #24,438 for "pudor". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "pior" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pudor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,189 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pior" and "pudor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pudor vs puxo". 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 #44,189 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