public vs público, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#9,912
“public” frequency rank: #300
“público” frequency rank: 10212
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	public	público
Definition	público	que pertence ao povo

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set public and público apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

public

7 ch

público

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. public (/ˈpʰʌblɪk/, X-SAMPA: /"p_hVblIk/) and público (/ˈpu.bli.ku/) 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 10212, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

public is recorded at frequency rank #9,912, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpʰʌblɪk/, X-SAMPA: /"p_hVblIk/. público is at rank #300, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpu.bli.ku/.

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 10212, this pair ranks #62,960 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of public vs público

Shared letters: bcilp. Private to "public": u. Private to "público": oú.

"public" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "público" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

public ← pbulic · ppublic · pubblic · pubilc · publci · publicc · publlic · pulbic

Frequency comparison

public#9,912

público#300

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "public" and "público" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈpʰʌblɪk/, X-SAMPA: /"p_hVblIk/ versus /ˈpu.bli.ku/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "public" or "público"?

"público" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #300 in our Portuguese list, against #9,912 for "public". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering public vs público

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “public” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable