pomadavspousadaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#26,509
“pomada” frequency rank
#14,678
“pousada” frequency rank
41187
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pomada pousada
Definition mistura de gordura animal com substâncias aromáticas ou medicinais hotel modesto, em geral com poucos quartos

Where the eye mixes pomada and pousada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. pomada runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against pousada's 7 (CVVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
pomada
7 ch
pousada

Look-alike desk: pomada vs pousada

A purely visual mix-up. pomada (/pu.ˈma.dɐ/) and pousada (/pow.ˈza.dɐ/) 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 41187, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pomada is recorded at frequency rank #26,509, classified as anoun, pronounced /pu.ˈma.dɐ/. pousada is at rank #14,678, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pow.ˈza.dɐ/.

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 41187, this pair ranks #24,785 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pomada vs pousada

Shared letters: adop. Private to "pomada": m. Private to "pousada": su.

"pomada" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "pousada" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pomada ← opmada · pmoada · poamda · pomaad · pomadda · pomdaa · pommada · ppomada
  • pousada ← opusada · posuada · pouasda · pousaad · pousadda · pousdaa · poussada · ppousada

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pomada" and "pousada" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/pu.ˈma.dɐ/ versus /pow.ˈza.dɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pomada" vs "pousada" - which ranks higher?
"pousada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,678 in our Portuguese list, against #26,509 for "pomada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "pomada" and "pousada" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pomada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pousada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,785 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pomada" and "pousada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "polaca vs pomada". 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 #24,785 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