poçosvsporcoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: poços is a noun, porco is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“poços” is a noun and “porco” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,936
“poços” frequency rank
#5,878
“porco” frequency rank
17814
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poços porco
Definition plural de poço que é muito sujo, imundo

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set poços and porco apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
poços
5 ch
porco

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: poços is /ˈpɔ.sus/ while porco is /ˈpoɾ.ku/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17814, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

poços is recorded at frequency rank #11,936, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɔ.sus/. porco is at rank #5,878, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpoɾ.ku/.

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 17814, this pair ranks #53,332 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of poços vs porco

Shared letters: op. Private to "poços": . Private to "porco": cr.

"poços" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "porco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • porcooprco · pocro · porcco · poroc · porrco · pporco · proco

Frequency comparison

poços#11,936
porco#5,878

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "poços" and "porco" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "poços" is a noun and "porco" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "poços" or "porco"?
"porco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,878 in our Portuguese list, against #11,936 for "poços". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering poços vs porco

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “poços”; for an adjective, it's “porco”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “poços” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list