Which to use
“balance” and “balanço” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,793
- “balance” frequency rank
- #6,987
- “balanço” frequency rank
- 27780
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | balance | balanço |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | balança | movimento oscilatório |
Where the eye mixes balance and balanço
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. balance and balanço follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: balance vs balanço
A purely visual mix-up. balance (/balɑ̃s/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and balanço (/bɐ.ˈlɐ̃.su/) 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 27780, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
balance is recorded at frequency rank #20,793, classified as anoun, pronounced /balɑ̃s/ ouvir^(fonte ?). 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 27780, this pair ranks #41,156 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of balance vs balanço
Shared letters: abln. Private to "balance": ce. Private to "balanço": oç.
"balance" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "balanço" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- balance ← ablance · baalnce · balacne · balancce · balanec · balannce · ballance · balnace
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "balance" for "balanço" ever safe?
Which is more common, "balance" or "balanço"?
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 "balance" 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 #41,156 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "balance" and "balanço" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "balanço vs báltico". 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 #41,156 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.