Which to use
“borrar” and “burlar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,857
- “borrar” frequency rank
- #29,252
- “burlar” frequency rank
- 71109
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | borrar | burlar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cobrir com bosta a eira terrosa, previamente à malha do cereal, para assim facilitar a lavoura. | enganar |
Where the eye mixes borrar and burlar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. borrar and burlar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between borrar and burlar
A purely visual mix-up. borrar (/bo.ˈraɾ/) and burlar (/buɾ.ˈlaɾ/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71109, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
borrar is recorded at frequency rank #41,857, classified as averb, pronounced /bo.ˈraɾ/. burlar is at rank #29,252, tagged as averb, pronounced /buɾ.ˈlaɾ/.
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 71109, this pair ranks #3,449 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of borrar vs burlar
Shared letters: abr. Private to "borrar": o. Private to "burlar": lu.
"borrar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "burlar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "borrar" and "burlar" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "borrar" vs "burlar" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "borrar" and "burlar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "borrar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "burlar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #3,449 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "borrar" and "burlar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "borrão vs borrar". 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 #3,449 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.