facavsfiançaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#4,903
“faca” frequency rank
#9,681
“fiança” frequency rank
14584
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faca fiança
Definition qualquer objeto cortante capaz de ser empunhado caução

Where the eye mixes faca and fiança

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. faca runs 4 letters (CVCV) against fiança's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
faca
6 ch
fiança

Look-alike desk: faca vs fiança

A purely visual mix-up. faca (/ˈfa.kɐ/) and fiança (/ˈfjɐ̃.sɐ/) 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 14584, 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/. fiança is at rank #9,681, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfjɐ̃.sɐ/.

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 14584, this pair ranks #57,460 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of faca vs fiança

Shared letters: af. Private to "faca": c. Private to "fiança": inç.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "faca" for "fiança" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfa.kɐ/ versus /ˈfjɐ̃.sɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "faca" or "fiança"?
"faca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,903 in our Portuguese list, against #9,681 for "fiança". 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 "fiança" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,460 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "faca" and "fiança" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fiança vs finta". 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 #57,460 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