poçovspodaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,129
“poço” frequency rank
#37,471
“poda” frequency rank
42600
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poço poda
Definition buraco fundo, geralmente circular, cavado no chão, com o objetivo de encontrar água corte dos ramos das árvores ou arbustos, ação de podar

Where the eye mixes poço and poda

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. poço and poda follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
poço
4 ch
poda

Visual trap between poço and poda

A purely visual mix-up. poço (/ˈpo.su/) and poda (/ˈpɔ.dɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42600, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

poço is recorded at frequency rank #5,129, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpo.su/. poda is at rank #37,471, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɔ.dɐ/.

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 42600, this pair ranks #23,156 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of poço vs poda

Shared letters: op. Private to "poço": ç. Private to "poda": ad.

"poço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "poda" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • poda ← opda · pdoa · poad · podda · ppoda

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "poço" and "poda" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpo.su/ versus /ˈpɔ.dɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "poço" vs "poda" - which ranks higher?
"poço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,129 in our Portuguese list, against #37,471 for "poda". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "poço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "poda" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,156 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poço" and "poda" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poda vs pomo". 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 #23,156 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