bokvsbroaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#41,372
“bok” frequency rank
#41,861
“broa” frequency rank
83233
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bok broa
Definition bode pão de milho

Where the eye mixes bok and broa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. bok runs 3 letters (CVC) against broa's 4 (CCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
bok
4 ch
broa

Look-alike desk: bok vs broa

A purely visual mix-up. bok (/bɔk/) and broa (/ˈbɾo.ɐ/) 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 83233, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bok is recorded at frequency rank #41,372, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɔk/. broa is at rank #41,861, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɾo.ɐ/.

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 83233, this pair ranks #936 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bok vs broa

Shared letters: bo. Private to "bok": k. Private to "broa": ar.

"bok" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "broa" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • broa ← bbroa · brao · brroa · rboa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bok" for "broa" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/bɔk/ versus /ˈbɾo.ɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bok" or "broa"?
"bok" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,372 in our Portuguese list, against #41,861 for "broa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bok" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "broa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #936 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bok" and "broa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bok vs bué". 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 #936 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