barravsbordaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: barra is a noun, borda is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“barra” is a noun and “borda” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,355
“barra” frequency rank
#8,724
“borda” frequency rank
11079
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature barra borda
Definition peça larga de metal ou outro material, via de regra de forma cilíndrica ou prismática terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo bordar

Letter map: barra vs borda

Shared letters muted; letters that set barra and borda apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
barra
5 ch
borda

Role in the sentence - barra and borda

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: barra is anoun and bordaaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11079, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

barra is recorded at frequency rank #2,355, classified as anoun. borda is at rank #8,724, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈbɔɾ.dɐ/.

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 11079, this pair ranks #61,853 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of barra vs borda

Shared letters: abr. Private to "barra": -. Private to "borda": do.

"barra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "borda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • barraabrra · bara · barar · bbarra · brara
  • bordabborda · bodra · borad · bordda · borrda · broda · obrda

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "barra" for "borda" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "barra" is a noun and "borda" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "barra" vs "borda" - which ranks higher?
"barra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,355 in our Portuguese list, against #8,724 for "borda". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "barra" and "borda".

  • Full dictionary entry for "barra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "borda" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,853 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "barra" and "borda" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "borda 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 #61,853 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