feavsfuiTell them apart

Quick tell: fea is a adjective, fui is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fea” is an adjective and “fui” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,731
“fea” frequency rank
#852
“fui” frequency rank
6583
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fea fui
Definition Forma del femenino singular de feo. Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de ser.

Where the eye mixes fea and fui

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
fea
3 ch
fui

Look-alike desk: fea vs fui

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fea is [ˈfea] while fui is [ˈfwi]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fea is recorded at frequency rank #5,731, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfea]. fui is at rank #852, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈfwi].

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 6583, this pair ranks #310,342 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fea vs fui

Shared letters: f. Private to "fea": ae. Private to "fui": iu.

"fea" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "fui" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fea" and "fui" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fea" is an adjective and "fui" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fea" or "fui"?
"fui" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #852 in our Spanish list, against #5,731 for "fea". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "fea" and "fui" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fea" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #310,342 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fea" and "fui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fea vs fora". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #310,342 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list