binvsbonTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#8,722
“bin” frequency rank
#10,479
“bon” frequency rank
19201
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bin bon
Definition primeira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo sein: bom

Letter map: bin vs bon

Shared letters muted; letters that set bin and bon apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
bin
3 ch
bon

Grammar separator: bin vs bon

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: bin is averb and bonanadjective. On the page they differ by a single letter - i in “bin” becomes o in “bon”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19201, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bin is recorded at frequency rank #8,722, classified as averb, pronounced /bɪn/. bon is at rank #10,479, tagged as anadj.

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 19201, this pair ranks #51,595 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bin vs bon

Shared letters: bn. Private to "bin": i. Private to "bon": o.

"bin" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "bon" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bin" and "bon" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bin" is a verb and "bon" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "bin" or "bon" show up more?
"bin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,722 in our Portuguese list, against #10,479 for "bon". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "bin" and "bon".

  • Full dictionary entry for "bin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,595 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bin" and "bon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bon vs bué". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #51,595 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