bascovsbásicoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#17,979
“basco” frequency rank
#3,747
“básico” frequency rank
21726
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature basco básico
Definition relativo ao País Basco ou a seus habitantes: que serve de base

Where the eye mixes basco and básico

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
basco
6 ch
básico

Visual trap between basco and básico

A purely visual mix-up. basco (/ˈbaʃ.ku/) and básico (/ˈba.zi.ku/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21726, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

basco is recorded at frequency rank #17,979, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈbaʃ.ku/. básico is at rank #3,747, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈba.zi.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 21726, this pair ranks #48,455 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of basco vs básico

Shared letters: bcos. Private to "basco": a. Private to "básico": .

"basco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "básico" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bascoabsco · bacso · bascco · basoc · bassco · bbasco · bsaco

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "basco" for "básico" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈbaʃ.ku/ versus /ˈba.zi.ku/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "basco" or "básico"?
"básico" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,747 in our Portuguese list, against #17,979 for "basco". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "basco" and "básico" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "basco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "básico" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #48,455 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "basco" and "básico" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "basco vs brusco". 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 #48,455 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