bicavsbolaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: bica is a verb, bola is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#28,476
“bica” frequency rank
#1,235
“bola” frequency rank
29711
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bica bola
Definition terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo bicar sólido esférico qualquer (ver esfera)

Letter map: bica vs bola

Shared letters muted; letters that set bica and bola apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
bica
4 ch
bola

Grammar separator: bica vs bola

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: bica is averb and bolaanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29711, 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/. bola is at rank #1,235, tagged as anoun.

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 29711, this pair ranks #38,855 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bica vs bola

Shared letters: ab. Private to "bica": ci. Private to "bola": lo.

"bica" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "bola" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bicabbica · bcia · biac · bicca · ibca
  • bolabbola · bloa · boal · bolla · obla

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bica" and "bola" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bica" is a verb and "bola" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "bica" or "bola" show up more?
"bola" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,235 in our Portuguese list, against #28,476 for "bica". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "bica" vs "bola" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bica" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bola" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #38,855 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bica" and "bola" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bica 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 #38,855 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