felizvsferozTell them apart

Which to use

“feliz” and “feroz” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#659
“feliz” frequency rank
#11,050
“feroz” frequency rank
11709
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature feliz feroz
Definition Que siente felicidad. Referente a un animal: cruel, agresivo o salvaje.

Where the eye mixes feliz and feroz

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. feliz and feroz follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
feliz
5 ch
feroz

Why the eye confuses feliz with feroz

A purely visual mix-up. feliz ([feˈlis]) and feroz ([feˈɾos]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11709, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

feliz is recorded at frequency rank #659, classified as anadj, pronounced [feˈlis]. feroz is at rank #11,050, tagged as anadj, pronounced [feˈɾos].

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 11709, this pair ranks #294,159 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of feliz vs feroz

Shared letters: efz. Private to "feliz": il. Private to "feroz": or.

"feliz" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "feroz" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • feliz ← efliz · feilz · felizz · felliz · felzi · ffeliz · fleiz
  • feroz ← efroz · feorz · ferozz · ferroz · ferzo · fferoz · freoz

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "feliz" and "feroz" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([feˈlis] versus [feˈɾos]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "feliz" or "feroz"?
"feliz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #659 in our Spanish list, against #11,050 for "feroz". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "feliz" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "feroz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #294,159 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "feliz" and "feroz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "felina vs feliz". 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 #294,159 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