bolarvsburlarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#39,019
“bolar” frequency rank
#29,252
“burlar” frequency rank
68271
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bolar burlar
Definition idealizar, conceber enganar

Where the eye mixes bolar and burlar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
bolar
6 ch
burlar

Look-alike desk: bolar vs burlar

A purely visual mix-up. bolar (/bu.ˈlaɾ/) and burlar (/buɾ.ˈlaɾ/) 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 68271, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bolar is recorded at frequency rank #39,019, classified as averb, pronounced /bu.ˈlaɾ/. burlar is at rank #29,252, tagged as averb, pronounced /buɾ.ˈlaɾ/.

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 68271, this pair ranks #4,328 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bolar vs burlar

Shared letters: ablr. Private to "bolar": o. Private to "burlar": u.

"bolar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "burlar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bolarbbolar · bloar · boalr · bolarr · bollar · bolra · oblar
  • burlarbburlar · brular · bulrar · buralr · burlarr · burllar · burlra · burrlar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bolar" for "burlar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/bu.ˈlaɾ/ versus /buɾ.ˈlaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bolar" or "burlar"?
"burlar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,252 in our Portuguese list, against #39,019 for "bolar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bolar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "burlar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,328 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bolar" and "burlar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bailar vs bolar". 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 #4,328 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