fossa
/ˈfɔ.sɐ/
The verdict
“fossa” has 5 generated spelling variants in the Portuguese index at frequency #17,291. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #17,291
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 853
- “F” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 19
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - grande abertura na terra
Corpus desk
Index PT-fossa · fossa · Portuguese
fossa · rank #17,291 · 5 variants · 19 confusables
- FREQ-MID #17,291
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 19 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-MID 853
- PHOTO-FINISH fá
Nearest frequency peer: fá (+2 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.
Pares de rank junto ao íman ortográfico “fossa”
Mesma faixa de raridade: útil se um typo cair num lema vizinho
- federações
federações
82,718 corpus weight
- financial
financial
82,714 corpus weight
- fossa
fossa
82,710 corpus weight
- fá
fá
82,708 corpus weight
- ground
ground
82,705 corpus weight
- Guido
Guido
82,703 corpus weight
What this shows “fossa” está entre estes pares FrequencyWords; a profundidade de typo mede-se à parte no gráfico de distância de edição.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | fossa |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfɔ.sɐ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #17,291 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 19 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequência do íman ortográfico “fossa”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around fossa (IPA /ˈfɔ.sɐ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #17,291 among 853 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for fossa, with forms such as "ffossa", "fosa", and "fosas". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 19 confusable-pair relationships, "fosse", "foste", "fosso", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct Portuguese form is fossa, spelled F-O-S-S-A.
Definition
- 1grande abertura na terra
- 2depressão, abatimento
- 3cavidade num organismo
- 4espaço físico para armazenar detritos oriundos de esgotos
- 5carnívoro endêmico de Madagascar
- 6lugar que concentra ou em que há grande número de coisas desagradáveis
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how fossa appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Foi a inconfundível deusa da música de fossa e da dor-de-cotovelo.
Como fica muito perto do rio, os moradores não podem fazer fossa.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ffossa
- fosa
- fosas
- fsosa
- ofssa
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fossa - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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
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Similar Portuguese words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "fossa", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).