Which to use
“ban” is a noun and “by” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,668
- “ban” frequency rank
- #1,598
- “by” frequency rank
- 15266
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ban | by |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | proibição | por; |
Letter map: ban vs by
Shared letters muted; letters that set ban and by apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Part-of-speech tell for ban / by
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ban is anoun and byapreposition. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15266, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ban is recorded at frequency rank #13,668, classified as anoun. by is at rank #1,598, tagged as aprep.
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 15266, this pair ranks #56,606 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ban vs by
Shared letters: b. Private to "ban": an. Private to "by": y.
"ban" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "by" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ban" and "by" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ban" or "by"?
After this comparison
Pair "ban" vs "by" 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 "by" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #56,606 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ban" and "by" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ban vs bué". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #56,606 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.