bondevsbónusTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,269
“bonde” frequency rank
#22,889
“bónus” frequency rank
38158
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bonde bónus
Definition título da dívida pública pagável ao portador bonificação

Where the eye mixes bonde and bónus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. bonde (CVCCV) and bónus (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
bonde
5 ch
bónus

Look-alike desk: bonde vs bónus

A purely visual mix-up. bonde (/ˈbõⁿ.ʤɪ/) and bónus (/ˈbɔ.nuʃ/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38158, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bonde is recorded at frequency rank #15,269, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbõⁿ.ʤɪ/. bónus is at rank #22,889, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɔ.nuʃ/.

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 38158, this pair ranks #28,349 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bonde vs bónus

Shared letters: bn. Private to "bonde": deo. Private to "bónus": suó.

"bonde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "bónus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bonde ← bbonde · bnode · bodne · bondde · boned · bonnde · obnde

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bonde" for "bónus" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈbõⁿ.ʤɪ/ versus /ˈbɔ.nuʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bonde" vs "bónus" - which ranks higher?
"bonde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,269 in our Portuguese list, against #22,889 for "bónus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bonde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bónus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,349 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bonde" and "bónus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "baús vs bónus". 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 #28,349 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