boatvsbotãoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“boat” and “botão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#22,232
“boat” frequency rank
#4,293
“botão” frequency rank
26525
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature boat botão
Definition bote, barco, canoa, batel, barco de pesca dispositivo encontrado em máquinas usado - pressionando - para mudar o estado da máquina, começar ou parar um processo

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set boat and botão apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
boat
5 ch
botão

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. boat (/bəʊt/, SAMPA: /b@Ut/) and botão (/bu.ˈtɐ̃w̃/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26525, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

boat is recorded at frequency rank #22,232, classified as anoun, pronounced /bəʊt/, SAMPA: /b@Ut/. botão is at rank #4,293, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bu.ˈtɐ̃w̃/.

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 26525, this pair ranks #42,629 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of boat vs botão

Shared letters: bot. Private to "boat": a. Private to "botão": ã.

"boat" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "botão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • boatbaot · bboat · boatt · obat

Frequency comparison

boat#22,232
botão#4,293

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "boat" and "botão" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/bəʊt/, SAMPA: /b@Ut/ versus /bu.ˈtɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "boat" or "botão"?
"botão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,293 in our Portuguese list, against #22,232 for "boat". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering boat vs botão

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “boat” 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