Which to use
“bad” and “beard” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,699
- “bad” frequency rank
- #44,234
- “beard” frequency rank
- 48933
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bad | beard |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | banho | barba |
Where the eye mixes bad and beard
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between bad and beard
A purely visual mix-up. bad (/bɑt/) and beard (/bɪɹd/, /biɚd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bad is recorded at frequency rank #4,699, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɑt/. beard is at rank #44,234, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɪɹd/, /biɚd/.
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 48933, this pair ranks #16,183 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bad vs beard
Shared letters: abd. Private to "bad": -. Private to "beard": er.
"bad" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "beard" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- beard ← baerd · bbeard · beadr · beardd · bearrd · berad · ebard
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bad" for "beard" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bad" vs "beard" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "bad" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "beard" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #16,183 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bad" and "beard" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beard vs beata". 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 #16,183 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.