feio

/ˈfɐj.u/

//ˈfɐj.u// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“feio” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #4,727) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#4,727
frequency rank, Portuguese
853
“F” headwords
4
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - não estético, horrendo

Corpus desk

Index PT-feio · feio · Portuguese

feio · rank #4,727 · 4 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,727
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 4 variants
  • BOOK-MID 853
  • PHOTO-FINISH exercer

Nearest frequency peer: exercer (-1 rank slots)

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.

Vizinhos de frequência do confusável “feio”

Pares de peso semelhante no corpus, aparte dos confusáveis abaixo

corpus weight

What this shows As barras situam “feio” face aos lemas portugueses mais próximos por rank, não um reprint da secretária de confusáveis.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

feio vs foi
50% similar
feio vs fez
50% similar
feio vs fim
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for feio
PropertyValue
Headwordfeio
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ˈfɐj.u/
Letters4
Frequency rank#4,727
Misspellings tracked4
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rank de corpus junto a confusáveis de “feio”

Da esquerda para a direita: o pouco que carrega a fala diária, depois a cauda longa quase invisível.feiocai aqui:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

A escala é logarítmica (cada marca ≈ 10× mais rara). Na mesma faixa de raridade aparecem “exercer” (#4,726), “feridos” (#4,728), “espacial” (#4,724). Entre 853 lemas com “F”, “feio” fica em #4,727. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for feio is neighbouring look-alikes ("foi", "fez", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced /ˈfɐj.u/. Frequency #4,727 among 853 “F” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for feio, with forms such as "efio", "feoi", and "ffeio". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "foi", "fez", "fim", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct Portuguese form is feio, spelled F-E-I-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    não estético, horrendo
  2. 2
    grave, sério
  3. 3
    ação ou ato desonesto, vergonhoso, indecoroso, indecente

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how feio appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Se tivesse feito o filme hoje, teria mostrado outra coisa, um lugar feio, horrível.
  2. Ali ocorreu um acidente feio.

Synonyms

horrendohorrível

Antonyms

belobonitolindomaravilhoso

This word in other languages

ugly(English)feo(Español)laid(Français)hässlich(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • efio
  • feoi
  • ffeio
  • fieo

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of feio - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

efio2feoi2ffeio1fieo2
Edit distance from "feio"

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 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "feio"?
"feio" is spelled F-E-I-O. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈfɐj.u/.
What does "feio" mean?
As an adjective, "feio" means: não estético, horrendo
What words are commonly confused with "feio"?
"feio" is commonly confused with "foi", "fez", "fim". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "feio"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "feio" is /ˈfɐj.u/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "feio" come from?
"feio" is a Portuguese word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Portuguese words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "feio", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

LGBT#4,742seco#4,763vaca#4,687voar#4,776

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list