fulano
The verdict
“fulano” is a moderately-common Portuguese word, ranked #16,777 in Portuguese word frequency and used as a noun.
- #16,777
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - pessoa qualquer não especificada; usado para completar o espaço que deveria ser preenchido pelo nome de uma pessoa qualquer em uma frase:
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 | fulano |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #16,777 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fulano” sits in Portuguese frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Portuguese entry for fulano is 6 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #16,777 in overall Portuguese word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for fulano, with forms such as "ffulano", "fluano", and "fualno". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "fusão", "furado", "fumado", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct Portuguese form is fulano, spelled F-U-L-A-N-O.
Definition
- 1pessoa qualquer não especificada; usado para completar o espaço que deveria ser preenchido pelo nome de uma pessoa qualquer em uma frase:
- 2pessoa insignificante
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ffulano,fluano,fualno,fulanno,fulaon,fullano,fulnao,uflano
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fulano - 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
How do you spell "fulano"?
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Using “fulano”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is F-U-L-A-N-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Don't mix it up with “fusão” - see the side-by-side comparison. fulano vs fusão
- Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.