Which to use
“polvo” is a noun and “posto” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,610
- “polvo” frequency rank
- #1,722
- “posto” frequency rank
- 19332
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | polvo | posto |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pó, poeira | colocado, plantado, posicionado |
Where the eye mixes polvo and posto
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between polvo and posto
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: polvo is /ˈpɔl.vɔ/ while posto is /ˈpoʃ.tʊ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 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 19332, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
polvo is recorded at frequency rank #17,610, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɔl.vɔ/. posto is at rank #1,722, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpoʃ.tʊ/.
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 19332, this pair ranks #51,415 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of polvo vs posto
Shared letters: op. Private to "polvo": lv. Private to "posto": st.
"polvo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "posto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "polvo" and "posto" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "polvo" vs "posto" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "polvo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "posto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #51,415 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "polvo" and "posto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pilão vs polvo". 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 #51,415 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.