banhar vs bilhar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“banhar” is a verb and “bilhar” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#26,977
“banhar” frequency rank: #23,581
“bilhar” frequency rank: 50558
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	banhar	bilhar
Definition	mergulhar em líquido, cobrir de líquido	jogo que se pratica impulsionando com um taco bolas, de marfim ou material semelhante, sobre uma mesa retangular normalmente forrada de pano geralmente verde

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set banhar and bilhar apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

banhar

6 ch

bilhar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: banhar is /bɐ.ˈɲaɾ/ while bilhar is /bi.ˈʎaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50558, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

banhar is recorded at frequency rank #26,977, classified as averb, pronounced /bɐ.ˈɲaɾ/. bilhar is at rank #23,581, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bi.ˈʎaɾ/.

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 50558, this pair ranks #14,412 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of banhar vs bilhar

Shared letters: abhr. Private to "banhar": n. Private to "bilhar": il.

"banhar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "bilhar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

banhar ← abnhar · bahnar · banahr · banharr · banhhar · banhra · bannhar · bbanhar
bilhar ← bbilhar · bihlar · bilahr · bilharr · bilhhar · bilhra · billhar · blihar

Frequency comparison

banhar#26,977

bilhar#23,581

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "banhar" and "bilhar" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "banhar" is a verb and "bilhar" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "banhar" or "bilhar"?

"bilhar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,581 in our Portuguese list, against #26,977 for "banhar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering banhar vs bilhar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “banhar”; for a noun, it's “bilhar”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “banhar” entry
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