bolhavsborraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#9,298
“bolha” frequency rank
#40,920
“borra” frequency rank
50218
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bolha borra
Definition pulga chasco, ave do gênero Oenanthe

Where the eye mixes bolha and borra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. bolha and borra follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
bolha
5 ch
borra

Look-alike desk: bolha vs borra

A purely visual mix-up. bolha (/bol.hɒ/.) and borra (/ˈbɔ.Rɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50218, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bolha is recorded at frequency rank #9,298, classified as anoun, pronounced /bol.hɒ/.. borra is at rank #40,920, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɔ.Rɐ/.

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 50218, this pair ranks #14,763 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bolha vs borra

Shared letters: abo. Private to "bolha": hl. Private to "borra": r.

"bolha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "borra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bolha ← bbolha · bloha · bohla · bolah · bolhha · bollha · oblha
  • borra ← bborra · borar · brora

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bolha" and "borra" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/bol.hɒ/. versus /ˈbɔ.Rɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bolha" or "borra"?
"bolha" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,298 in our Portuguese list, against #40,920 for "borra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "bolha" and "borra" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bolha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "borra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,763 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bolha" and "borra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "borra vs borrão". 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 #14,763 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