Which to use
“Ball” and “baú” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,855
- “Ball” frequency rank
- #13,895
- “baú” frequency rank
- 22750
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Ball | baú |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | bola | caixa retangular com tampa convexa e geralmente revestida de couro cru |
Where the eye mixes Ball and baú
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Ball with baú
A purely visual mix-up. Ball (/bal/) 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 22750, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Ball is recorded at frequency rank #8,855, classified as anoun, pronounced /bal/. 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 22750, this pair ranks #47,220 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Ball vs baú
Shared letters: ab. Private to "Ball": l. Private to "baú": ú.
"Ball" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "baú" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- Ball ← abll · bball · blal
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Ball" for "baú" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Ball" vs "baú" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Ball" 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 #47,220 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Ball" and "baú" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "baú 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 #47,220 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.