poço vs preço, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#5,129
“poço” frequency rank: #996
“preço” frequency rank: 6125
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	poço	preço
Definition	buraco fundo, geralmente circular, cavado no chão, com o objetivo de encontrar água	custo unitário de qualquer coisa que possa ser vendida

Where the eye mixes poço and preço

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

4 ch

poço

5 ch

preço

Look-alike desk: poço vs preço

A purely visual mix-up. poço (/ˈpo.su/) and preço (/ˈpɾe.su/) 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 6125, 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/. preço is at rank #996, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɾe.su/.

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 6125, this pair ranks #68,369 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of poço vs preço

Shared letters: opç. Private to "poço": -. Private to "preço": er.

"poço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "preço" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "poço" for "preço" ever safe?

No. They are said differently (/ˈpo.su/ versus /ˈpɾe.su/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "poço" or "preço"?

"preço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #996 in our Portuguese list, against #5,129 for "poço". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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 "preço" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #68,369 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"poço" and "preço" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poço vs pomo". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #68,369 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.