bossa
The verdict
“bossa” is a moderately-common Portuguese word, ranked #17,713 in Portuguese word frequency and used as a noun.
- #17,713
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 5
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - protuberância anormal, nas costas ou no peito, resultante do desvio da espinha dorsal ou do esterno; corcova, geba, giba
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bossa |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #17,713 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bossa” sits in Portuguese frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Portuguese entry for bossa is 5 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #17,713 in overall Portuguese word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for bossa, with forms such as "bbossa", "bosa", and "bosas". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bota", "brisa", "bosta", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct Portuguese form is bossa, spelled B-O-S-S-A.
Definition
- 1protuberância anormal, nas costas ou no peito, resultante do desvio da espinha dorsal ou do esterno; corcova, geba, giba
- 2protuberância boleada na superfície de um osso chato
- 3protuberância, calombo produzido por uma contusão; galo
- 4protuberância dorsal presente em certos animais, como o camelo e o dromedário; corcova, geba, giba
- 5saliência do crânio outrora considerada sinal de um desenvolvimento particular de determinada faculdade intelectual
- 6relevo, parte saliente de uma superfície plana
- 7inclinação para alguma atividade; vocação, talento
- 8condição ou virtude diferencial que faz uma pessoa ou uma coisa ser notada
- 9forma esférica que adquire a matéria vitrificada nas fábricas de vidro
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbossa,bosa,bosas,bsosa,obssa
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bossa - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "bossa"?
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Using “bossa”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is B-O-S-S-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “bota” - see the side-by-side comparison. bossa vs bota
- Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.