balançovsbalãoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,987
“balanço” frequency rank
#7,601
“balão” frequency rank
14588
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature balanço balão
Definition movimento oscilatório recipiente de forma oval que, cheio de um fluido mais leve que o ar, flutua sem auxílio de um sistema de propulsão

Letter map: balanço vs balão

Shared letters muted; letters that set balanço and balão apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. balanço runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against balão's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
balanço
5 ch
balão

Corpus notes: balanço and balão

balanço and balão are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14588, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

balanço is recorded at frequency rank #6,987, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɐ.ˈlɐ̃.su/. balão is at rank #7,601, tagged as anoun.

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 14588, this pair ranks #57,453 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of balanço vs balão

Shared letters: ablo. Private to "balanço": nç. Private to "balão": ã.

"balanço" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "balão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "balanço" for "balão" ever safe?
No. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "balanço" or "balão"?
"balanço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,987 in our Portuguese list, against #7,601 for "balão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "balanço" vs "balão" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "balanço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "balão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,453 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "balanço" and "balão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bailar vs balão". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #57,453 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