backvsbaiWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: back is a noun, bai is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“back” is a noun and “bai” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,042
“back” frequency rank
#27,371
“bai” frequency rank
31413
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature back bai
Definition cigarro de maconha; beque de acordo com; conforme

Letter map: back vs bai

Shared letters muted; letters that set back and bai apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
back
3 ch
bai

Grammar separator: back vs bai

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: back is anoun and baiapreposition. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31413, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

back is recorded at frequency rank #4,042, classified as anoun. bai is at rank #27,371, tagged as aprep, pronounced /ba.ˈi/.

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 31413, this pair ranks #36,686 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of back vs bai

Shared letters: ab. Private to "back": ck. Private to "bai": i.

"back" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "bai" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • backabck · bacck · backk · bakc · bback · bcak

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "back" and "bai" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "back" is a noun and "bai" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "back" or "bai"?
"back" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,042 in our Portuguese list, against #27,371 for "bai". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "back" and "bai". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "back" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bai" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #36,686 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "back" and "bai" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bai vs bué". 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 #36,686 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