bananavsbandaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,826
“banana” frequency rank
#908
“banda” frequency rank
6734
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature banana banda
Definition fruto produzido pela bananeira parte lateral de um objeto

Where the eye mixes banana and banda

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. banana runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against banda's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
banana
5 ch
banda

Look-alike desk: banana vs banda

A purely visual mix-up. banana (/bɐ.ˈnɐ.nɐ/) and banda (/ˈbɐ̃.dɐ/) 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 6734, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

banana is recorded at frequency rank #5,826, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɐ.ˈnɐ.nɐ/. banda is at rank #908, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɐ̃.dɐ/.

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 6734, this pair ranks #67,627 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of banana vs banda

Shared letters: abn. Private to "banana": -. Private to "banda": d.

"banana" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "banda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • banana ← abnana · baanna · banaan · bananna · bannaa · bannana · bbanana · bnaana
  • banda ← abnda · badna · banad · bandda · bannda · bbanda · bnada

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "banana" and "banda" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/bɐ.ˈnɐ.nɐ/ versus /ˈbɐ̃.dɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "banana" vs "banda" - which ranks higher?
"banda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #908 in our Portuguese list, against #5,826 for "banana". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "banana" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "banda" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #67,627 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "banana" and "banda" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "banana vs bananal". 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 #67,627 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