bancovsbanhoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#821
“banco” frequency rank
#1,381
“banho” frequency rank
2202
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature banco banho
Definition móvel para sentar, sem encosto se for individual, em madeira, cortiça, plástico, vime ou ferro; mocho; escabelo: imersão de um corpo em água, vapor, lama, etc, para limpeza ou tratamento médico

Where the eye mixes banco and banho

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
banco
5 ch
banho

Visual trap between banco and banho

A purely visual mix-up. banco (/ˈbã.ku/) and banho (/ˈbɐ.ɲu/) 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 a single letter - c in “banco” becomes h in “banho”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2202, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

banco is recorded at frequency rank #821, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbã.ku/. banho is at rank #1,381, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɐ.ɲu/.

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 2202, this pair ranks #73,261 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of banco vs banho

Shared letters: abno. Private to "banco": c. Private to "banho": h.

"banco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "banho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bancoabnco · bacno · bancco · bannco · banoc · bbanco · bnaco
  • banhoabnho · bahno · banhho · bannho · banoh · bbanho · bnaho

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "banco" and "banho" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈbã.ku/ versus /ˈbɐ.ɲu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "banco" vs "banho" - which ranks higher?
"banco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #821 in our Portuguese list, against #1,381 for "banho". 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 "banco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "banho" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #73,261 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "banco" and "banho" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "banho vs bardo". 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 #73,261 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