babadovsbaratoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“babado” and “barato” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#31,249
“babado” frequency rank
#3,820
“barato” frequency rank
35069
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature babado barato
Definition molhado com baba de baixo preço

Where the eye mixes babado and barato

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
babado
6 ch
barato

Why the eye confuses babado with barato

A purely visual mix-up. babado (/baˈba.du/) and barato (/bɐ.ˈɾa.tu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35069, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

babado is recorded at frequency rank #31,249, classified as anadj, pronounced /baˈba.du/. barato is at rank #3,820, tagged as anadj, pronounced /bɐ.ˈɾa.tu/.

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 35069, this pair ranks #32,042 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of babado vs barato

Shared letters: abo. Private to "babado": d. Private to "barato": rt.

"babado" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "barato" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • babadoabbado · baabdo · babaddo · babaod · babbado · babdao · bbaado · bbabado
  • baratoabrato · baarto · baraot · baratto · barrato · bartao · bbarato · braato

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "babado" and "barato" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/baˈba.du/ versus /bɐ.ˈɾa.tu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "babado" or "barato"?
"barato" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,820 in our Portuguese list, against #31,249 for "babado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "babado" and "barato" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "babado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "barato" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,042 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "babado" and "barato" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "babado vs bardo". 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 #32,042 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list