bebêvsbileWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,561
“bebê” frequency rank
#49,325
“bile” frequency rank
50886
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bebê bile
Definition criança pequenina; nenê substância amarelo-esverdeada secretada pelo fígado dos vertebrados e que atua no duodeno auxiliando especialmente na emulsificação e absorção das gorduras (é armazenada na vesícula biliar)

Letter map: bebê vs bile

Shared letters muted; letters that set bebê and bile apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
bebê
4 ch
bile

Pair insight - bebê / bile

bebê and bile are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50886, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bebê is recorded at frequency rank #1,561, classified as anoun. bile is at rank #49,325, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbi.li/.

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 50886, this pair ranks #14,069 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bebê vs bile

Shared letters: be. Private to "bebê": ê. Private to "bile": il.

"bebê" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "bile" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bilebbile · biel · bille · blie · ible

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bebê" for "bile" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "bebê" or "bile" show up more?
"bebê" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,561 in our Portuguese list, against #49,325 for "bile". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "bebê" and "bile". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bebê" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,069 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bebê" and "bile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bile 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 #14,069 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