baconvsbalconyWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“bacon” and “balcony” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,573
“bacon” frequency rank
#9,852
“balcony” frequency rank
15425
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bacon balcony
Definition Cured meat from the sides, belly, or back of a pig. An accessible structure extending from a building, especially outside a window.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
bacon
7 ch
balcony

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. bacon (/ˈbeɪ.kən/) and balcony (/ˈbælkəni/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15425, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bacon is recorded at frequency rank #5,573, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbeɪ.kən/. balcony is at rank #9,852, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbælkəni/.

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 15425, this pair ranks #464,045 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bacon vs balcony

Shared letters: abcno. Private to "bacon": -. Private to "balcony": ly.

"bacon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "balcony" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • baconabcon · baccon · bacno · baconn · baocn · bbacon · bcaon
  • balconyablcony · baclony · balccony · balcnoy · balconny · balconyy · balcoyn · ballcony

Frequency comparison

bacon#5,573
balcony#9,852

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bacon" and "balcony" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈbeɪ.kən/ versus /ˈbælkəni/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bacon" or "balcony"?
"bacon" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,573 in our English list, against #9,852 for "balcony". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering bacon vs balcony

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 “bacon” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list