Which to use
“beco” and “bico” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,381
- “beco” frequency rank
- #5,914
- “bico” frequency rank
- 18295
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | beco | bico |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | viela, rua estreita | extremidade de entrada do sistema digestivo de uma ave |
Where the eye mixes beco and bico
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: beco vs bico
A purely visual mix-up. beco (/ˈbe.ku/) and bico (/ˈbi.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 a single letter - e in “beco” becomes i in “bico”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18295, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
beco is recorded at frequency rank #12,381, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbe.ku/. bico is at rank #5,914, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbi.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 18295, this pair ranks #52,729 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of beco vs bico
Shared letters: bco. Private to "beco": e. Private to "bico": i.
"beco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "bico" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "beco" for "bico" ever safe?
Frequency check: "beco" vs "bico" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "beco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bico" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #52,729 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "beco" and "bico" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beco vs brio". 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 #52,729 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.