Which to use
“balcão” is a noun and “basco” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,011
- “balcão” frequency rank
- #17,979
- “basco” frequency rank
- 28990
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | balcão | basco |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mostrador de estabelecimento comercial | relativo ao País Basco ou a seus habitantes: |
Where the eye mixes balcão and basco
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. balcão runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against basco's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: balcão vs basco
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: balcão is /baɫ.ˈkɐ̃w̃/ while basco is /ˈbaʃ.ku/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
balcão is recorded at frequency rank #11,011, classified as anoun, pronounced /baɫ.ˈkɐ̃w̃/. basco is at rank #17,979, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈbaʃ.ku/.
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 28990, this pair ranks #39,748 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of balcão vs basco
Shared letters: abco. Private to "balcão": lã. Private to "basco": s.
"balcão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "basco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- basco ← absco · bacso · bascco · basoc · bassco · bbasco · bsaco
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "balcão" for "basco" ever safe?
Which is more common, "balcão" or "basco"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "balcão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "basco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #39,748 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "balcão" and "basco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "basco vs brusco". 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 #39,748 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.