BassvsbaúsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#16,231
“Bass” frequency rank
#47,199
“baús” frequency rank
63430
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bass baús
Definition a voz mais grave dum homem; baixo plural de baú

Where the eye mixes Bass and baús

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Bass (CVCC) and baús (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
Bass
4 ch
baús

Why the eye confuses Bass with baús

A purely visual mix-up. Bass (/bas/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) 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 differ by a single letter - s in “Bass” becomes ú in “baús”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63430, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bass is recorded at frequency rank #16,231, classified as anoun, pronounced /bas/ ouvir^(fonte ?). 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 63430, this pair ranks #6,192 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Bass vs baús

Shared letters: abs. Private to "Bass": -. Private to "baús": ú.

"Bass" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "baús" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bass ← abss · bbass · bsas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Bass" for "baús" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/bas/ ouvir^(fonte ?) versus /bɐ.ˈu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Bass" vs "baús" - which ranks higher?
"Bass" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,231 in our Portuguese list, against #47,199 for "baús". 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 "Bass" 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 #6,192 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bass" 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 #6,192 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