Which to use
“banho” is a noun and “bani” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,381
- “banho” frequency rank
- #39,994
- “bani” frequency rank
- 41375
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | banho | bani |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | imersão de um corpo em água, vapor, lama, etc, para limpeza ou tratamento médico | banhar, tomar banho, molhar |
Where the eye mixes banho and bani
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. banho runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against bani's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses banho with bani
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: banho is /ˈbɐ.ɲu/ while bani is /ˈba.ni/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41375, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
banho is recorded at frequency rank #1,381, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɐ.ɲu/. bani is at rank #39,994, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈba.ni/.
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 41375, this pair ranks #24,540 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of banho vs bani
Shared letters: abn. Private to "banho": ho. Private to "bani": i.
"banho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "bani" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "banho" for "bani" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "banho" or "bani" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "banho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bani" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #24,540 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "banho" and "bani" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bandit vs bani". 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 #24,540 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.