belovsbicoTell them apart

Quick tell: belo is a adjective, bico is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,110
“belo” frequency rank
#5,914
“bico” frequency rank
7024
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature belo bico
Definition que é possuidor de beleza extremidade de entrada do sistema digestivo de uma ave

Where the eye mixes belo and bico

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
belo
4 ch
bico

Why the eye confuses belo with bico

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: belo is /ˈbɛ.lu/ while bico is /ˈbi.ku/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7024, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

belo is recorded at frequency rank #1,110, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈbɛ.lu/. 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 7024, this pair ranks #67,229 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of belo vs bico

Shared letters: bo. Private to "belo": el. Private to "bico": ci.

"belo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "bico" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • belobbelo · bello · beol · bleo · eblo
  • bicobbico · bcio · bicco · bioc · ibco

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "belo" for "bico" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "belo" is an adjective and "bico" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "belo" or "bico"?
"belo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,110 in our Portuguese list, against #5,914 for "bico". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "belo" 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 #67,229 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "belo" and "bico" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bico vs bile". 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 #67,229 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