poçovspoolTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,129
“poço” frequency rank
#18,414
“pool” frequency rank
23543
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Letter map: poço vs pool

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

4 ch
poço
4 ch
pool

Spelling & dictionary notes on poço vs pool

poço and pool 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23543, 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/. pool is at rank #18,414, 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 23543, this pair ranks #46,274 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of poço vs pool

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

"poço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pool" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • poolopol · pooll · ppool

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "poço" and "pool" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "poço" or "pool" show up more?
"poço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,129 in our Portuguese list, against #18,414 for "pool". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "poço" and "pool".

  • Full dictionary entry for "poço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pool" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #46,274 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poço" and "pool" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pomo vs pool". 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 #46,274 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