balançarvsbalançoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#17,202
“balançar” frequency rank
#6,987
“balanço” frequency rank
24189
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature balançar balanço
Definition dar balanço a movimento oscilatório

Where the eye mixes balançar and balanço

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
balançar
7 ch
balanço

Look-alike desk: balançar vs balanço

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: balançar is /bɐ.lɐ̃.ˈsaɾ/ while balanço is /bɐ.ˈlɐ̃.su/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24189, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

balançar is recorded at frequency rank #17,202, classified as averb, pronounced /bɐ.lɐ̃.ˈsaɾ/. balanço is at rank #6,987, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɐ.ˈlɐ̃.su/.

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 24189, this pair ranks #45,488 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of balançar vs balanço

Shared letters: ablnç. Private to "balançar": r. Private to "balanço": o.

"balançar" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "balanço" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "balançar" and "balanço" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "balançar" is a verb and "balanço" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "balançar" vs "balanço" - which ranks higher?
"balanço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,987 in our Portuguese list, against #17,202 for "balançar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "balançar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "balanço" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #45,488 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "balançar" and "balanço" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "balançar vs balnear". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #45,488 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