baiãovsbailaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“baião” and “baila” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#30,438
“baião” frequency rank
#35,025
“baila” frequency rank
65463
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature baião baila
Definition tabua-larga (Typha latifolia) baile

Where the eye mixes baião and baila

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. baião (CVVVV) and baila (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
baião
5 ch
baila

Look-alike desk: baião vs baila

A purely visual mix-up. baião (/baj.'oŋ/) and baila (/ˈbaj.lɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65463, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

baião is recorded at frequency rank #30,438, classified as anoun, pronounced /baj.'oŋ/. baila is at rank #35,025, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbaj.lɐ/.

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 65463, this pair ranks #5,367 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of baião vs baila

Shared letters: abi. Private to "baião": oã. Private to "baila": l.

"baião" · 5 letters · shape CVVVV  ·  "baila" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • baila ← abila · baial · bailla · balia · bbaila · biala

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "baião" and "baila" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/baj.'oŋ/ versus /ˈbaj.lɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "baião" vs "baila" - which ranks higher?
"baião" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,438 in our Portuguese list, against #35,025 for "baila". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "baião" and "baila" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "baião" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "baila" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #5,367 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "baião" and "baila" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "baila vs bile". 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 #5,367 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