baratovsburacoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: barato is a adjective, buraco is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

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 spellings diverge

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

6 ch
barato
6 ch
buraco

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

  • baratoabrato · baarto · baraot · baratto · barrato · bartao · bbarato · braato
  • buracobburaco · bruaco · buarco · buracco · buraoc · burcao · burraco · ubraco

Frequency comparison

barato#3,820
buraco#4,450

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "barato" and "buraco" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "barato" is an adjective and "buraco" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "barato" or "buraco"?
"barato" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,820 in our Portuguese list, against #4,450 for "buraco". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering barato vs buraco

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “barato”; for a noun, it's “buraco”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “barato” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list