Which to use
“bale” and “baú” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,600
- “bale” frequency rank
- #13,895
- “baú” frequency rank
- 43495
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bale | baú |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | fardo | caixa retangular com tampa convexa e geralmente revestida de couro cru |
Where the eye mixes bale and baú
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between bale and baú
A purely visual mix-up. bale (/beɪ̯l/, [ˈbeɪ̯(ə)ɫ], [beə̯ɫ]) and baú (/ba.ˈu/) 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 43495, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bale is recorded at frequency rank #29,600, classified as anoun, pronounced /beɪ̯l/, [ˈbeɪ̯(ə)ɫ], [beə̯ɫ]. baú is at rank #13,895, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ba.ˈu/.
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 43495, this pair ranks #22,129 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bale vs baú
Shared letters: ab. Private to "bale": el. Private to "baú": ú.
"bale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "baú" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- bale ← balle · bbale · blae
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bale" and "baú" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "bale" or "baú" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "bale" and "baú" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "baú" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #22,129 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bale" and "baú" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bale vs bile". 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 #22,129 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.