poçovspoloConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,129
“poço” frequency rank
#7,199
“polo” frequency rank
12328
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poço polo
Definition buraco fundo, geralmente circular, cavado no chão, com o objetivo de encontrar água cada uma das extremidades do eixo de uma esfera

Letter map: poço vs polo

Shared letters muted; letters that set poço and polo apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
poço
4 ch
polo

Spelling & dictionary notes on poço vs polo

poço and polo are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - ç in “poço” becomes l in “polo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12328, 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/. polo is at rank #7,199, tagged as anoun.

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 12328, this pair ranks #60,310 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of poço vs polo

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

"poço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "polo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • polooplo · ploo · pollo · ppolo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "poço" and "polo" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by a single letter - ç in “poço” becomes l in “polo”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "poço" or "polo"?
"poço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,129 in our Portuguese list, against #7,199 for "polo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "poço" vs "polo" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "poço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "polo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,310 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poço" and "polo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pilão vs polo". 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 #60,310 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