facavsfaíscaTell them apart

Which to use

“faca” and “faísca” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,903
“faca” frequency rank
#27,481
“faísca” frequency rank
32384
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faca faísca
Definition qualquer objeto cortante capaz de ser empunhado descarga elétrica entre dois corpos eletrizados

Where the eye mixes faca and faísca

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. faca runs 4 letters (CVCV) against faísca's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
faca
6 ch
faísca

Visual trap between faca and faísca

A purely visual mix-up. faca (/ˈfa.kɐ/) and faísca (/fɐ.ˈiʃ.kɐ/) 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 32384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

faca is recorded at frequency rank #4,903, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfa.kɐ/. faísca is at rank #27,481, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fɐ.ˈiʃ.kɐ/.

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 32384, this pair ranks #35,439 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of faca vs faísca

Shared letters: acf. Private to "faca": -. Private to "faísca": sí.

"faca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "faísca" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • faca ← afca · faac · facca · fcaa · ffaca

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "faca" and "faísca" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfa.kɐ/ versus /fɐ.ˈiʃ.kɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "faca" or "faísca"?
"faca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,903 in our Portuguese list, against #27,481 for "faísca". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "faca" and "faísca" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "faca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "faísca" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #35,439 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "faca" and "faísca" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faia vs faísca". 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 #35,439 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list