baivsbomWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: bai is a preposition, bom is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#27,371
“bai” frequency rank
#96
“bom” frequency rank
27467
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bai bom
Definition de acordo com; conforme que corresponde plenamente ao que é exigido, desejado ou esperado quanto à sua natureza, adequação, função, eficácia, funcionamento etc. (falando de ser ou coisa)

Letter map: bai vs bom

Shared letters muted; letters that set bai and bom apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
bai
3 ch
bom

Role in the sentence - bai and bom

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: bai is apreposition and bomanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27467, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bai is recorded at frequency rank #27,371, classified as aprep, pronounced /ba.ˈi/. bom is at rank #96, 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 27467, this pair ranks #41,486 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bai vs bom

Shared letters: b. Private to "bai": ai. Private to "bom": mo.

"bai" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "bom" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bai" and "bom" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bai" is a preposition and "bom" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bai" or "bom"?
"bom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #96 in our Portuguese list, against #27,371 for "bai". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pair "bai" vs "bom" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bom" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #41,486 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bai" and "bom" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bai vs bué". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #41,486 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