badvsbiWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: bad is a noun, bi is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bad” is a noun and “bi” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,699
“bad” frequency rank
#7,501
“bi” frequency rank
12200
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bad bi
Definition banho bissexual

Letter map: bad vs bi

Shared letters muted; letters that set bad and bi apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
bad
2 ch
bi

Grammar separator: bad vs bi

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: bad is anoun and bianadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12200, 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/. bi is at rank #7,501, tagged as anadj.

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 12200, this pair ranks #60,478 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bad vs bi

Shared letters: b. Private to "bad": ad. Private to "bi": i.

"bad" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "bi" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bad" for "bi" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bad" is a noun and "bi" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bad" or "bi"?
"bad" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,699 in our Portuguese list, against #7,501 for "bi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "bad" vs "bi" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bad" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,478 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bad" and "bi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bi vs bile". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #60,478 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