bomvsbraWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: bom is a adjective, bra is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bom” is an adjective and “bra” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,500
“bom” frequency rank
#30,360
“bra” frequency rank
57860
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bom bra
Definition Bueno. Bruma.

Where the eye mixes bom and bra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
bom
3 ch
bra

Why the eye confuses bom with bra

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bom is [ˈbõ] while bra is /bra/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57860, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bom is recorded at frequency rank #27,500, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈbõ]. bra is at rank #30,360, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bra/.

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 57860, this pair ranks #68,777 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bom vs bra

Shared letters: b. Private to "bom": mo. Private to "bra": ar.

"bom" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "bra" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bom" and "bra" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bom" is an adjective and "bra" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bom" or "bra"?
"bom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,500 in our Spanish list, against #30,360 for "bra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bom" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #68,777 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bom" and "bra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bra vs brie". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #68,777 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list