Which to use
“trapo” and “travão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,367
- “trapo” frequency rank
- #47,127
- “travão” frequency rank
- 87494
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | trapo | travão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pedaço de pano velho ou usado | alavanca que detém o movimento de uma máquina |
Where the eye mixes trapo and travão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. trapo runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against travão's 6 (CCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between trapo and travão
A purely visual mix-up. trapo (/ˈtɾa.pu/) and travão (/tɾa.'boŋ/) 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 87494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
trapo is recorded at frequency rank #40,367, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɾa.pu/. travão is at rank #47,127, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɾa.'boŋ/.
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 87494, this pair ranks #486 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of trapo vs travão
Shared letters: aort. Private to "trapo": p. Private to "travão": vã.
"trapo" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "travão" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- trapo ← rtapo · tarpo · traop · trappo · trpao · trrapo · ttrapo
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "trapo" and "travão" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "trapo" vs "travão" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "trapo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "travão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #486 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "trapo" and "travão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "talão vs travão". 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 #486 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.