poçovspotroConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,129
“poço” frequency rank
#33,548
“potro” frequency rank
38677
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poço potro
Definition buraco fundo, geralmente circular, cavado no chão, com o objetivo de encontrar água denominação dada ao cavalo do nascimento até a troca dos dentes de leite por volta do quarto ano de idade; animal novo

Where the eye mixes poço and potro

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
poço
5 ch
potro

Look-alike desk: poço vs potro

A purely visual mix-up. poço (/ˈpo.su/) and potro (/ˈpo.tɾu/) 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 38677, 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/. potro is at rank #33,548, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpo.tɾu/.

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 38677, this pair ranks #27,710 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of poço vs potro

Shared letters: op. Private to "poço": ç. Private to "potro": rt.

"poço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "potro" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • potrooptro · potor · potrro · pottro · ppotro · ptoro

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "poço" and "potro" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpo.su/ versus /ˈpo.tɾu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "poço" vs "potro" - which ranks higher?
"poço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,129 in our Portuguese list, against #33,548 for "potro". 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 "potro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,710 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poço" and "potro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pomo vs potro". 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 #27,710 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