bruçosvsbruxoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#31,269
“bruços” frequency rank
#17,210
“bruxo” frequency rank
48479
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bruços bruxo
Definition um dos estilos da natação de competição diz-se do homem que faz bruxarias

Letter map: bruços vs bruxo

Shared letters muted; letters that set bruços and bruxo apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. bruços runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against bruxo's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
bruços
5 ch
bruxo

Pair insight - bruços / bruxo

bruços and bruxo 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48479, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bruços is recorded at frequency rank #31,269, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɾu.sus/. bruxo is at rank #17,210, tagged as anoun.

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 48479, this pair ranks #16,676 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bruços vs bruxo

Shared letters: boru. Private to "bruços": sç. Private to "bruxo": x.

"bruços" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "bruxo" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bruxo ← bbruxo · brruxo · bruox · bruxxo · brxuo · burxo · rbuxo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bruços" and "bruxo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "bruços" or "bruxo" show up more?
"bruxo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,210 in our Portuguese list, against #31,269 for "bruços". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "bruços" and "bruxo".

  • Full dictionary entry for "bruços" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bruxo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,676 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bruços" and "bruxo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bruços vs brusco". 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 #16,676 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