Which to use
“bom” and “born” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #96
- “bom” frequency rank
- #15,033
- “born” frequency rank
- 15129
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bom | born |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | que corresponde plenamente ao que é exigido, desejado ou esperado quanto à sua natureza, adequação, função, eficácia, funcionamento etc. (falando de ser ou coisa) | nato, que tem um dom ou uma habilidade natural: |
Letter map: bom vs born
Shared letters muted; letters that set bom and born apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Pair insight - bom / born
bom and born are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15129, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bom is recorded at frequency rank #96, classified as anadj. born is at rank #15,033, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈboː(r)n/, /bɔə(ɹ)n/.
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 15129, this pair ranks #56,788 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bom vs born
Shared letters: bo. Private to "bom": m. Private to "born": nr.
"bom" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "born" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- born ← bborn · bonr · bornn · borrn · bron · obrn
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bom" and "born" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "bom" or "born"?
After this comparison
Pair "bom" vs "born" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "bom" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "born" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #56,788 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bom" and "born" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bojo vs born". 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 #56,788 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.