bordado vs bordo, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“bordado” is an adjective and “bordo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,224
“bordado” frequency rank: #3,456
“bordo” frequency rank: 26680
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	bordado	bordo
Definition	guarnecido com borda	cada um dos lados de um navio

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set bordado and bordo apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

bordado

5 ch

bordo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bordado is /buɾ.ˈda.du/ while bordo is /ˈbɔɾ.du/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26680, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bordado is recorded at frequency rank #23,224, classified as anadj, pronounced /buɾ.ˈda.du/. bordo is at rank #3,456, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɔɾ.du/.

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 26680, this pair ranks #42,423 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bordado vs bordo

Shared letters: bdor. Private to "bordado": a. Private to "bordo": -.

"bordado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "bordo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

bordado ← bbordado · bodrado · boraddo · bordaddo · bordaod · borddado · borddao · borrdado
bordo ← bbordo · bodro · borddo · borod · borrdo · brodo · obrdo

Frequency comparison

bordado#23,224

bordo#3,456

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bordado" and "bordo" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bordado" is an adjective and "bordo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "bordado" or "bordo"?

"bordo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,456 in our Portuguese list, against #23,224 for "bordado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering bordado vs bordo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “bordado”; for a noun, it's “bordo”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “bordado” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable