baúvsbonWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: baú is a noun, bon is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“baú” is a noun and “bon” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,895
“baú” frequency rank
#10,479
“bon” frequency rank
24374
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature baú bon
Definition caixa retangular com tampa convexa e geralmente revestida de couro cru bom

Letter map: baú vs bon

Shared letters muted; letters that set baú and bon apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
baú
3 ch
bon

Grammar separator: baú vs bon

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: baú is anoun and bonanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24374, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

baú is recorded at frequency rank #13,895, classified as anoun, pronounced /ba.ˈu/. bon is at rank #10,479, tagged as anadj.

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 24374, this pair ranks #45,255 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of baú vs bon

Shared letters: b. Private to "baú": . Private to "bon": no.

"baú" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "bon" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "baú" and "bon" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "baú" is a noun and "bon" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "baú" or "bon"?
"bon" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,479 in our Portuguese list, against #13,895 for "baú". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "baú" and "bon". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "baú" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #45,255 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "baú" and "bon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "baú vs bué". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #45,255 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