Base vs baús, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#422
“Base” frequency rank: #47,199
“baús” frequency rank: 47621
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Base	baús
Definition	base	plural de baú

Where the eye mixes Base and baús

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

4 ch

Base

4 ch

baús

Look-alike desk: Base vs baús

A purely visual mix-up. Base (/baːzə/) and baús (/bɐ.ˈu/) 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 47621, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Base is recorded at frequency rank #422, classified as anoun, pronounced /baːzə/. baús is at rank #47,199, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɐ.ˈu/.

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 47621, this pair ranks #17,609 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Base vs baús

Shared letters: abs. Private to "Base": e. Private to "baús": ú.

"Base" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "baús" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

Base ← abse · baes · basse · bbase · bsae

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Base" and "baús" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently (/baːzə/ versus /bɐ.ˈu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "Base" or "baús" show up more?

"Base" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #422 in our Portuguese list, against #47,199 for "baús". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "Base" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "baús" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #17,609 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"Base" and "baús" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "baús vs bué". 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 #17,609 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.