bandavsbanjoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#908
“banda” frequency rank
#34,156
“banjo” frequency rank
35064
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature banda banjo
Definition parte lateral de um objeto espécie de instrumento de cordas da família do alaúde, de corpo redondo, com uma abertura circular na parte posterior, originário da África

Where the eye mixes banda and banjo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. banda and banjo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
banda
5 ch
banjo

Why the eye confuses banda with banjo

A purely visual mix-up. banda (/ˈbɐ̃.dɐ/) and banjo ([ˈbɐ̃.ʒu], Plural: [ˈbɐ̃.ʒuʃ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35064, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

banda is recorded at frequency rank #908, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɐ̃.dɐ/. banjo is at rank #34,156, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbɐ̃.ʒu], Plural: [ˈbɐ̃.ʒuʃ].

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 35064, this pair ranks #32,052 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of banda vs banjo

Shared letters: abn. Private to "banda": d. Private to "banjo": jo.

"banda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "banjo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • banda ← abnda · badna · banad · bandda · bannda · bbanda · bnada
  • banjo ← abnjo · bajno · banjjo · bannjo · banoj · bbanjo · bnajo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "banda" and "banjo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈbɐ̃.dɐ/ versus [ˈbɐ̃.ʒu], Plural: [ˈbɐ̃.ʒuʃ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "banda" vs "banjo" - which ranks higher?
"banda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #908 in our Portuguese list, against #34,156 for "banjo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "banda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "banjo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,052 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "banda" and "banjo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "banjo vs bojo". 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 #32,052 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