babarvsbarWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: babar is a verb, bar is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“babar” is a verb and “bar” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,910
“babar” frequency rank
#2,081
“bar” frequency rank
27991
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature babar bar
Definition derramar baba dependência de hotel, de restaurante, de estabelecimento onde se vendem bebidas normalmente com um balcão; sala ou botequim com tal balcão

Where the eye mixes babar and bar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
babar
3 ch
bar

Why the eye confuses babar with bar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: babar is /bɐ.ˈbaɾ/ while bar is /ˈbaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “bar” sits inside “babar”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27991, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

babar is recorded at frequency rank #25,910, classified as averb, pronounced /bɐ.ˈbaɾ/. bar is at rank #2,081, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbaɾ/.

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 27991, this pair ranks #40,895 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of babar vs bar

Shared letters: abr. Private to "babar": -. Private to "bar": -.

"babar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "bar" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • babarabbar · baabr · babarr · babbar · bbaar · bbabar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "babar" and "bar" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "babar" is a verb and "bar" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "babar" or "bar" show up more?
"bar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,081 in our Portuguese list, against #25,910 for "babar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "babar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #40,895 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "babar" and "bar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "babar vs bailar". 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 #40,895 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