bakvsbinTell them apart

Quick tell: bak is a noun, bin is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bak” is a noun and “bin” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,589
“bak” frequency rank
#8,722
“bin” frequency rank
47311
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bak bin
Definition retaguarda, parte traseira primeira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo sein:

Where the eye mixes bak and bin

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
bak
3 ch
bin

Look-alike desk: bak vs bin

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bak is /ˈbaːk/ while bin is /bɪn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47311, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bak is recorded at frequency rank #38,589, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbaːk/. bin is at rank #8,722, tagged as averb, pronounced /bɪn/.

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 47311, this pair ranks #17,945 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bak vs bin

Shared letters: b. Private to "bak": ak. Private to "bin": in.

"bak" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "bin" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bak" and "bin" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bak" is a noun and "bin" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "bak" or "bin" show up more?
"bin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,722 in our Portuguese list, against #38,589 for "bak". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "bak" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,945 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bak" and "bin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bak vs bué". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #17,945 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