Which to use
“ban” is a noun and “blau” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,668
- “ban” frequency rank
- #39,501
- “blau” frequency rank
- 53169
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ban | blau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | proibição | azul |
Letter map: ban vs blau
Shared letters muted; letters that set ban and blau apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Role in the sentence - ban and blau
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ban is anoun and blauanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53169, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ban is recorded at frequency rank #13,668, classified as anoun. blau is at rank #39,501, tagged as anadj, pronounced /blaʊ̯/ ouvir^(fonte ?).
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 53169, this pair ranks #12,225 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ban vs blau
Shared letters: ab. Private to "ban": n. Private to "blau": lu.
"ban" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "blau" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- blau ← balu · bblau · bllau · lbau
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ban" for "blau" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ban" vs "blau" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pair "ban" vs "blau" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "ban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #12,225 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ban" and "blau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "baús vs blau". 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 #12,225 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.