borravsborrarWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: borra is a noun, borrar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“borra” is a noun and “borrar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,920
“borra” frequency rank
#41,857
“borrar” frequency rank
82777
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature borra borrar
Definition chasco, ave do gênero Oenanthe cobrir com bosta a eira terrosa, previamente à malha do cereal, para assim facilitar a lavoura.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
borra
6 ch
borrar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: borra is /ˈbɔ.Rɐ/ while borrar is /bo.ˈraɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “borra” sits inside “borrar”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82777, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

borra is recorded at frequency rank #40,920, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɔ.Rɐ/. borrar is at rank #41,857, tagged as averb, pronounced /bo.ˈraɾ/.

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 82777, this pair ranks #987 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of borra vs borrar

Shared letters: abor. Private to "borra": -. Private to "borrar": -.

"borra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "borrar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • borrabborra · borar · brora
  • borrarbborrar · borarr · borrarr · borrra · brorar · obrrar

Frequency comparison

borra#40,920
borrar#41,857

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "borra" and "borrar" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "borra" is a noun and "borrar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "borra" or "borrar"?
"borra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,920 in our Portuguese list, against #41,857 for "borrar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering borra vs borrar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list