baciavsbailaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,824
“bacia” frequency rank
#35,025
“baila” frequency rank
40849
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bacia baila
Definition recipiente redondo, de bordas largas, próprio para lavagens baile

Where the eye mixes bacia and baila

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. bacia (CVCVV) and baila (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
bacia
5 ch
baila

Why the eye confuses bacia with baila

A purely visual mix-up. bacia (/bɐ.ˈsi.ɐ/) and baila (/ˈbaj.lɐ/) 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 40849, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bacia is recorded at frequency rank #5,824, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɐ.ˈsi.ɐ/. baila is at rank #35,025, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbaj.lɐ/.

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 40849, this pair ranks #25,190 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bacia vs baila

Shared letters: abi. Private to "bacia": c. Private to "baila": l.

"bacia" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "baila" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bacia ← abcia · bacai · baccia · baica · bbacia · bcaia
  • baila ← abila · baial · bailla · balia · bbaila · biala

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bacia" and "baila" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/bɐ.ˈsi.ɐ/ versus /ˈbaj.lɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bacia" or "baila"?
"bacia" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,824 in our Portuguese list, against #35,025 for "baila". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bacia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "baila" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,190 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bacia" and "baila" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "baila vs bile". 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 #25,190 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