facavsfamaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,903
“faca” frequency rank
#3,766
“fama” frequency rank
8669
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faca fama
Definition qualquer objeto cortante capaz de ser empunhado conceito (bom ou mau) que um grupo humano tem de alguém ou de algo; reputação

Where the eye mixes faca and fama

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
faca
4 ch
fama

Visual trap between faca and fama

A purely visual mix-up. faca (/ˈfa.kɐ/) and fama (/ˈfɐ.mɐ/) 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 a single letter - c in “faca” becomes m in “fama”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8669, 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/. fama is at rank #3,766, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɐ.mɐ/.

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 8669, this pair ranks #65,023 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of faca vs fama

Shared letters: af. Private to "faca": c. Private to "fama": m.

"faca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fama" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • facaafca · faac · facca · fcaa · ffaca
  • famaafma · faam · famma · ffama · fmaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "faca" and "fama" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfa.kɐ/ versus /ˈfɐ.mɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "faca" vs "fama" - which ranks higher?
"fama" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,766 in our Portuguese list, against #4,903 for "faca". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "faca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fama" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #65,023 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "faca" and "fama" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faca vs fogaça". 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 #65,023 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