povovspovosConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#432
“povo” frequency rank
#2,533
“povos” frequency rank
2965
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature povo povos
Definition conjunto dos habitantes de um país, de uma cidade, de uma localidade, etc plural de povo

Where the eye mixes povo and povos

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

4 ch
povo
5 ch
povos

Look-alike desk: povo vs povos

A purely visual mix-up. povo (/ˈpo.vu/) and povos (/ˈpɔ.vus/) 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 extra letter(s) - “povo” sits inside “povos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2965, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

povo is recorded at frequency rank #432, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpo.vu/. povos is at rank #2,533, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɔ.vus/.

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 2965, this pair ranks #72,253 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of povo vs povos

Shared letters: opv. Private to "povo": -. Private to "povos": s.

"povo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "povos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • povo ← opvo · poov · povvo · ppovo · pvoo
  • povos ← opvos · poovs · povoss · povso · povvos · ppovos · pvoos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "povo" for "povos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpo.vu/ versus /ˈpɔ.vus/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "povo" or "povos"?
"povo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #432 in our Portuguese list, against #2,533 for "povos". 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 "povo" and "povos" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "povo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "povos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #72,253 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "povo" and "povos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pomo vs povos". 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 #72,253 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