Which to use
“bale” and “bode” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,600
- “bale” frequency rank
- #13,898
- “bode” frequency rank
- 43498
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bale | bode |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | fardo | o macho da cabra (Capra aegagrus hircus). |
Where the eye mixes bale and bode
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: bale vs bode
A purely visual mix-up. bale (/beɪ̯l/, [ˈbeɪ̯(ə)ɫ], [beə̯ɫ]) and bode (/ˈbɔ.dɨ/) 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 43498, 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]. bode is at rank #13,898, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɔ.dɨ/.
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 43498, this pair ranks #22,125 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bale vs bode
Shared letters: be. Private to "bale": al. Private to "bode": do.
"bale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "bode" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bale" and "bode" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "bale" or "bode" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "bale" and "bode" 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 "bode" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #22,125 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bale" and "bode" 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 #22,125 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.