Which to use
“barato” is an adjective and “buraco” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,820
- “barato” frequency rank
- #4,450
- “buraco” frequency rank
- 8270
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | barato | buraco |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | de baixo preço | uma abertura através de alguma coisa |
Where the eye mixes barato and buraco
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. barato and buraco follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses barato with buraco
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: barato is /bɐ.ˈɾa.tu/ while buraco is /bu.ˈɾa.ku/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
barato is recorded at frequency rank #3,820, classified as anadj, pronounced /bɐ.ˈɾa.tu/. buraco is at rank #4,450, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bu.ˈɾa.ku/.
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 8270, this pair ranks #65,565 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of barato vs buraco
Shared letters: abor. Private to "barato": t. Private to "buraco": cu.
"barato" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "buraco" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "barato" for "buraco" ever safe?
Frequency check: "barato" vs "buraco" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "barato" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "buraco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #65,565 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "barato" and "buraco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brabo vs buraco". 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 #65,565 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.