bicavsbocãoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: bica is a verb, bocão is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bica” is a verb and “bocão” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,476
“bica” frequency rank
#40,450
“bocão” frequency rank
68926
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bica bocão
Definition terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo bicar que fala mais da conta, linguarudo

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set bica and bocão apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
bica
5 ch
bocão

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bica is /ˈbi.kɐ/ while bocão is /bo.'koŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68926, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bica is recorded at frequency rank #28,476, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈbi.kɐ/. bocão is at rank #40,450, tagged as anadj, pronounced /bo.'koŋ/.

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 68926, this pair ranks #4,101 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bica vs bocão

Shared letters: bc. Private to "bica": ai. Private to "bocão": .

"bica" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "bocão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bicabbica · bcia · biac · bicca · ibca

Frequency comparison

bica#28,476
bocão#40,450

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bica" and "bocão" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bica" is a verb and "bocão" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bica" or "bocão"?
"bica" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,476 in our Portuguese list, against #40,450 for "bocão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering bica vs bocão

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “bica”; for an adjective, it's “bocão”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “bica” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list