Which to use
“fá” and “Frau” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,293
- “fá” frequency rank
- #32,994
- “Frau” frequency rank
- 50287
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fá | Frau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | quarta nota musical da escala de dó maior | mulher |
Where the eye mixes fá and Frau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. fá runs 2 letters (CV) against Frau's 4 (CCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fá with Frau
A purely visual mix-up. fá (/ˈfa/) and Frau (/fraʊ̯/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50287, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fá is recorded at frequency rank #17,293, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfa/. Frau is at rank #32,994, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fraʊ̯/.
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 50287, this pair ranks #14,690 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fá vs Frau
Shared letters: f. Private to "fá": á. Private to "Frau": aru.
"fá" · 2 letters · shape CV · "Frau" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- Frau ← faru · ffrau · frrau · frua · rfau
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fá" and "Frau" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "fá" or "Frau" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fá" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Frau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #14,690 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fá" and "Frau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foras vs Frau". 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 #14,690 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.