brutovsbruxoConfusable pair

Quick tell: bruto is a adjective, bruxo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bruto” is an adjective and “bruxo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,918
“bruto” frequency rank
#17,210
“bruxo” frequency rank
23128
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bruto bruxo
Definition néscio, incapaz diz-se do homem que faz bruxarias

Letter map: bruto vs bruxo

Shared letters muted; letters that set bruto and bruxo apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. bruto and bruxo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
bruto
5 ch
bruxo

Role in the sentence - bruto and bruxo

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: bruto is anadjective and bruxoanoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - t in “bruto” becomes x in “bruxo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23128, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bruto is recorded at frequency rank #5,918, classified as anadj. 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 23128, this pair ranks #46,752 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bruto vs bruxo

Shared letters: boru. Private to "bruto": t. Private to "bruxo": x.

"bruto" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "bruxo" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bruto ← bbruto · brruto · brtuo · bruot · brutto · burto · rbuto
  • bruxo ← bbruxo · brruxo · bruox · bruxxo · brxuo · burxo · rbuxo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bruto" for "bruxo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bruto" is an adjective and "bruxo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "bruto" vs "bruxo" - which ranks higher?
"bruto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,918 in our Portuguese list, against #17,210 for "bruxo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "bruto" vs "bruxo" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bruto" 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 #46,752 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bruto" and "bruxo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "brio vs bruxo". 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 #46,752 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