Which to use
“bad” and “brad” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,699
- “bad” frequency rank
- #7,604
- “brad” frequency rank
- 12303
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bad | brad |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | banho | braço |
Where the eye mixes bad and brad
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between bad and brad
A purely visual mix-up. bad (/bɑt/) and brad (/ˈbɾad/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12303, 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/. brad is at rank #7,604, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɾad/.
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 12303, this pair ranks #60,355 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of bad vs brad
Shared letters: abd. Private to "bad": -. Private to "brad": r.
"bad" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "brad" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- brad ← bard · bbrad · bradd · brda · brrad · rbad
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bad" and "brad" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "bad" or "brad" show up more?
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 "brad" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #60,355 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bad" and "brad" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brad vs brio". 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 #60,355 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.