braçovsburacoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,130
“braço” frequency rank
#4,450
“buraco” frequency rank
6580
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature braço buraco
Definition um dos membros anteriores humanos uma abertura através de alguma coisa

Where the eye mixes braço and buraco

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. braço runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against buraco's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
braço
6 ch
buraco

Why the eye confuses braço with buraco

A purely visual mix-up. braço (/ˈbɾä.sʊ/) and buraco (/bu.ˈɾa.ku/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6580, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

braço is recorded at frequency rank #2,130, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɾä.sʊ/. buraco is at rank #4,450, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bu.ˈɾa.ku/.

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 6580, this pair ranks #67,826 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of braço vs buraco

Shared letters: abor. Private to "braço": ç. Private to "buraco": cu.

"braço" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "buraco" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • buraco ← bburaco · bruaco · buarco · buracco · buraoc · burcao · burraco · ubraco

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "braço" and "buraco" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈbɾä.sʊ/ versus /bu.ˈɾa.ku/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "braço" or "buraco" show up more?
"braço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,130 in our Portuguese list, against #4,450 for "buraco". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "braço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "buraco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #67,826 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "braço" and "buraco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brabo vs buraco". 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 #67,826 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