poçovsPolWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,129
“poço” frequency rank
#22,125
“Pol” frequency rank
27254
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poço Pol
Definition buraco fundo, geralmente circular, cavado no chão, com o objetivo de encontrar água polo

Where the eye mixes poço and Pol

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
poço
3 ch
Pol

Why the eye confuses poço with Pol

A purely visual mix-up. poço (/ˈpo.su/) and Pol (/poːl/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) 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 27254, 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/. Pol is at rank #22,125, tagged as anoun, pronounced /poːl/ ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 27254, this pair ranks #41,755 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of poço vs Pol

Shared letters: op. Private to "poço": ç. Private to "Pol": l.

"poço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Pol" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "poço" for "Pol" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpo.su/ versus /poːl/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "poço" vs "Pol" - which ranks higher?
"poço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,129 in our Portuguese list, against #22,125 for "Pol". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "poço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Pol" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #41,755 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poço" and "Pol" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pix vs Pol". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #41,755 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