BalançavsbananaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#9,006
“Balança” frequency rank
#5,826
“banana” frequency rank
14832
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Balança banana
Definition um dos signos do Zodíaco fruto produzido pela bananeira

Where the eye mixes Balança and banana

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Balança runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against banana's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
Balança
6 ch
banana

Why the eye confuses Balança with banana

A purely visual mix-up. Balança (/bɜˈłɜ̃sɜ/) and banana (/bɐ.ˈnɐ.nɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14832, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Balança is recorded at frequency rank #9,006, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɜˈłɜ̃sɜ/. banana is at rank #5,826, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɐ.ˈnɐ.nɐ/.

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 14832, this pair ranks #57,153 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Balança vs banana

Shared letters: abn. Private to "Balança": lç. Private to "banana": -.

"Balança" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "banana" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • banana ← abnana · baanna · banaan · bananna · bannaa · bannana · bbanana · bnaana

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Balança" and "banana" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/bɜˈłɜ̃sɜ/ versus /bɐ.ˈnɐ.nɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Balança" vs "banana" - which ranks higher?
"banana" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,826 in our Portuguese list, against #9,006 for "Balança". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Balança" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "banana" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,153 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Balança" and "banana" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "banana vs bananal". 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 #57,153 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