favela
/fəˈvɛlə/
"favela" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“favela” is uncommon English (frequency #50,507 among 2,507 “F” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #50,507
- frequency rank, English
- 2,507
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A slum or shantytown, especially in Brazil.
Corpus desk
Index EN-favela · favela · English
favela · rank #50,507 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #50,507
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,507
- PHOTO-FINISH fashionista
Nearest frequency peer: fashionista (-2 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “favela”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- fain
fain
49,498 corpus weight
- fairtrade
fairtrade
49,497 corpus weight
- fashionista
fashionista
49,496 corpus weight
- favela
favela
49,494 corpus weight
- ferrying
ferrying
49,492 corpus weight
- fertilisati…
fertilisation
49,491 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “favela” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | favela |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /fəˈvɛlə/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #50,507 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “favela” in English
Rare enough to double-check
favela is uncommon English at frequency #50,507 among 2,507 “F” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /fəˈvɛlə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A slum or shantytown, especially in Brazil.".
No misspelling variants are generated for favela in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unadapted borrowing from Brazilian Portuguese favela. The correct English form is favela, spelled F-A-V-E-L-A.
Definition
- 1A slum or shantytown, especially in Brazil.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how favela appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The favela is now the model for most of the world's cities, as vast numbers of people continue to migrate to them in order to survive.
security forces in November of 2010 stormed one of the city's most notorious favelas, the complex of the Morro do Alemão in the northern zone of the city
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from Brazilian Portuguese favela.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "favela", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).