pompavspousaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#29,089
“pompa” frequency rank
#29,092
“pousa” frequency rank
58181
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pompa pousa
Definition ostentação, luxo ato de pousar

Where the eye mixes pompa and pousa

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

5 ch
pompa
5 ch
pousa

Look-alike desk: pompa vs pousa

A purely visual mix-up. pompa (/ˈpõ.pɐ/) and pousa (/ˈpo.zɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58181, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pompa is recorded at frequency rank #29,089, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpõ.pɐ/. pousa is at rank #29,092, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpo.zɐ/.

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 58181, this pair ranks #8,895 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pompa vs pousa

Shared letters: aop. Private to "pompa": m. Private to "pousa": su.

"pompa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pousa" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pompaopmpa · pmopa · pomap · pommpa · pomppa · popma · ppompa
  • pousaopusa · posua · pouas · poussa · ppousa · puosa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pompa" for "pousa" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpõ.pɐ/ versus /ˈpo.zɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pompa" vs "pousa" - which ranks higher?
"pompa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,089 in our Portuguese list, against #29,092 for "pousa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pompa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pousa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,895 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pompa" and "pousa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pomo vs pompa". 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 #8,895 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