podavspolpaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#37,471
“poda” frequency rank
#26,851
“polpa” frequency rank
64322
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poda polpa
Definition corte dos ramos das árvores ou arbustos, ação de podar substância mole e carnuda dos frutos e de algumas raízes

Where the eye mixes poda and polpa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. poda runs 4 letters (CVCV) against polpa's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
poda
5 ch
polpa

Visual trap between poda and polpa

A purely visual mix-up. poda (/ˈpɔ.dɐ/) and polpa (/ˈpoɫ.pɐ/) 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 64322, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

poda is recorded at frequency rank #37,471, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɔ.dɐ/. polpa is at rank #26,851, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpoɫ.pɐ/.

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 64322, this pair ranks #5,826 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of poda vs polpa

Shared letters: aop. Private to "poda": d. Private to "polpa": l.

"poda" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "polpa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • poda ← opda · pdoa · poad · podda · ppoda
  • polpa ← oplpa · plopa · polap · pollpa · polppa · popla · ppolpa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "poda" and "polpa" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpɔ.dɐ/ versus /ˈpoɫ.pɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "poda" or "polpa"?
"polpa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,851 in our Portuguese list, against #37,471 for "poda". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "poda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "polpa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #5,826 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poda" and "polpa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poda vs pomo". 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 #5,826 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