bruxavsbruxoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,437
“bruxa” frequency rank
#17,210
“bruxo” frequency rank
25647
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bruxa bruxo
Definition mulher que faz bruxarias; feiticeira; maga; mágica; vidente: diz-se do homem que faz bruxarias

Letter map: bruxa vs bruxo

Shared letters muted; letters that set bruxa and bruxo apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

5 ch
bruxa
5 ch
bruxo

Corpus notes: bruxa and bruxo

bruxa 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 a single letter - a in “bruxa” becomes o in “bruxo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25647, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bruxa is recorded at frequency rank #8,437, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɾu.ʃɐ/. 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 25647, this pair ranks #43,641 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bruxa vs bruxo

Shared letters: brux. Private to "bruxa": a. Private to "bruxo": o.

"bruxa" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "bruxo" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bruxabbruxa · brruxa · bruax · bruxxa · brxua · burxa · rbuxa
  • bruxobbruxo · brruxo · bruox · bruxxo · brxuo · burxo · rbuxo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bruxa" and "bruxo" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by a single letter - a in “bruxa” becomes o in “bruxo”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "bruxa" vs "bruxo" - which ranks higher?
"bruxa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,437 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bruxa" 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 #43,641 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bruxa" 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 #43,641 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