badvsbuéWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#4,699
“bad” frequency rank
#48,801
“bué” frequency rank
53500
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bad bué
Definition banho muito

Letter map: bad vs bué

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

3 ch
bad
3 ch
bué

Grammar separator: bad vs bué

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: bad is anoun and buéanadverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53500, 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/. bué is at rank #48,801, tagged as anadv.

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 53500, this pair ranks #11,979 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bad vs bué

Shared letters: b. Private to "bad": ad. Private to "bué": .

"bad" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "bué" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bad" and "bué" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bad" is a noun and "bué" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "bad" or "bué" show up more?
"bad" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,699 in our Portuguese list, against #48,801 for "bué". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "bad" and "bué".

  • Full dictionary entry for "bad" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bué" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,979 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bad" and "bué" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bile vs bué". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #11,979 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