barcavsborraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,525
“barca” frequency rank
#40,920
“borra” frequency rank
55445
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature barca borra
Definition embarcação larga e pouco funda chasco, ave do gênero Oenanthe

Where the eye mixes barca and borra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
barca
5 ch
borra

Visual trap between barca and borra

A purely visual mix-up. barca (/ˈbaɾ.kɐ/) and borra (/ˈbɔ.Rɐ/) 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 55445, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

barca is recorded at frequency rank #14,525, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbaɾ.kɐ/. borra is at rank #40,920, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɔ.Rɐ/.

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 55445, this pair ranks #10,587 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of barca vs borra

Shared letters: abr. Private to "barca": c. Private to "borra": o.

"barca" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "borra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • barcaabrca · bacra · barac · barcca · barrca · bbarca · braca
  • borrabborra · borar · brora

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "barca" for "borra" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈbaɾ.kɐ/ versus /ˈbɔ.Rɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "barca" or "borra"?
"barca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,525 in our Portuguese list, against #40,920 for "borra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "barca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "borra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,587 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "barca" and "borra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "borra vs borrão". 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 #10,587 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