bordão vs borrão, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#30,857
“bordão” frequency rank: #48,282
“borrão” frequency rank: 79139
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	bordão	borrão
Definition	vara de apoio	sujidade

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch

bordão

6 ch

borrão

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

bordão and borrão 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 a single letter - d in “bordão” becomes r in “borrão”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79139, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bordão is recorded at frequency rank #30,857, classified as anoun. borrão is at rank #48,282, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bu.ˈRɐ̃w̃/.

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 79139, this pair ranks #1,542 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bordão vs borrão

Shared letters: borã. Private to "bordão": d. Private to "borrão": -.

"bordão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "borrão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Frequency comparison

bordão#30,857

borrão#48,282

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bordão" and "borrão" be used interchangeably?

No. They differ by a single letter - d in “bordão” becomes r in “borrão”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

Which is more common, "bordão" or "borrão"?

"bordão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,857 in our Portuguese list, against #48,282 for "borrão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering bordão vs borrão

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “bordão” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable