balivsbasTell them apart

Which to use

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

#18,255
“bali” frequency rank
#35,453
“bas” frequency rank
53708
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bali bas
Definition que diz respeito à língua bali baixo:

Where the eye mixes bali and bas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
bali
3 ch
bas

Visual trap between bali and bas

A purely visual mix-up. bali (/ˈba.li/) and bas (/bɑ/) 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 53708, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bali is recorded at frequency rank #18,255, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈba.li/. bas is at rank #35,453, tagged as anadj, pronounced /bɑ/.

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 53708, this pair ranks #11,844 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bali vs bas

Shared letters: ab. Private to "bali": il. Private to "bas": s.

"bali" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "bas" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • baliabli · bail · balli · bbali · blai

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bali" for "bas" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈba.li/ versus /bɑ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bali" or "bas"?
"bali" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,255 in our Portuguese list, against #35,453 for "bas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "bali" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,844 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bali" and "bas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bas vs bué". 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 #11,844 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