Which to use
“boa” is a noun and “bom” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #165
- “boa” frequency rank
- #96
- “bom” frequency rank
- 261
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | boa | bom |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | jiboia | que corresponde plenamente ao que é exigido, desejado ou esperado quanto à sua natureza, adequação, função, eficácia, funcionamento etc. (falando de ser ou coisa) |
Letter map: boa vs bom
Shared letters muted; letters that set boa and bom apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Grammar separator: boa vs bom
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: boa is anoun and bomanadjective. On the page they differ by a single letter - a in “boa” becomes m in “bom”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 261, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
boa is recorded at frequency rank #165, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbo.ɐ/. bom is at rank #96, 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 261, this pair ranks #75,374 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of boa vs bom
Shared letters: bo. Private to "boa": a. Private to "bom": m.
"boa" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "bom" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "boa" and "bom" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "boa" vs "bom" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "boa" and "bom". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "boa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bom" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #75,374 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "boa" and "bom" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "boa vs bué". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #75,374 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.