Which to use
“punho” is a noun and “puni” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,395
- “punho” frequency rank
- #34,868
- “puni” frequency rank
- 44263
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | punho | puni |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | a parte proximal da mão que se articula com o antebraço | punir |
Where the eye mixes punho and puni
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. punho runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against puni's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between punho and puni
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: punho is /ˈpu.ɲu/ while puni is /ˈpu.ni/.. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44263, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
punho is recorded at frequency rank #9,395, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpu.ɲu/. puni is at rank #34,868, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpu.ni/..
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 44263, this pair ranks #21,251 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of punho vs puni
Shared letters: npu. Private to "punho": ho. Private to "puni": i.
"punho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "puni" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "punho" and "puni" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "punho" or "puni"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "punho" and "puni" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "punho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "puni" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #21,251 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "punho" and "puni" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puni vs puré". 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 #21,251 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.