bailavsbrisaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#35,025
“baila” frequency rank
#10,320
“brisa” frequency rank
45345
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature baila brisa
Definition baile vento suave

Where the eye mixes baila and brisa

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

5 ch
baila
5 ch
brisa

Visual trap between baila and brisa

A purely visual mix-up. baila (/ˈbaj.lɐ/) and brisa (/ˈbɾi.zɐ/) 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 45345, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

baila is recorded at frequency rank #35,025, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbaj.lɐ/. brisa is at rank #10,320, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɾi.zɐ/.

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 45345, this pair ranks #20,057 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of baila vs brisa

Shared letters: abi. Private to "baila": l. Private to "brisa": rs.

"baila" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "brisa" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • baila ← abila · baial · bailla · balia · bbaila · biala
  • brisa ← bbrisa · birsa · brias · brissa · brrisa · brsia · rbisa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "baila" for "brisa" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈbaj.lɐ/ versus /ˈbɾi.zɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "baila" or "brisa" show up more?
"brisa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,320 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

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "baila" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "brisa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,057 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "baila" and "brisa" 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 #20,057 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