banjovsbeijoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#34,156
“banjo” frequency rank
#2,464
“beijo” frequency rank
36620
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature banjo beijo
Definition espécie de instrumento de cordas da família do alaúde, de corpo redondo, com uma abertura circular na parte posterior, originário da África toque com os beiços na face, mão, boca ou em qualquer objeto como ato de amor, de respeito ou de religiosidade

Where the eye mixes banjo and beijo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. banjo (CVCCV) and beijo (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
banjo
5 ch
beijo

Look-alike desk: banjo vs beijo

A purely visual mix-up. banjo ([ˈbɐ̃.ʒu], Plural: [ˈbɐ̃.ʒuʃ]) and beijo (/ˈbej.ʒu/) 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 36620, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

banjo is recorded at frequency rank #34,156, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbɐ̃.ʒu], Plural: [ˈbɐ̃.ʒuʃ]. beijo is at rank #2,464, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbej.ʒu/.

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 36620, this pair ranks #30,129 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of banjo vs beijo

Shared letters: bjo. Private to "banjo": an. Private to "beijo": ei.

"banjo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "beijo" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • banjo ← abnjo · bajno · banjjo · bannjo · banoj · bbanjo · bnajo
  • beijo ← bbeijo · beijjo · beioj · bejio · biejo · ebijo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "banjo" for "beijo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbɐ̃.ʒu], Plural: [ˈbɐ̃.ʒuʃ] versus /ˈbej.ʒu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "banjo" vs "beijo" - which ranks higher?
"beijo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,464 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "banjo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beijo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,129 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "banjo" and "beijo" 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 #30,129 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