facavsfugaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,903
“faca” frequency rank
#3,622
“fuga” frequency rank
8525
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faca fuga
Definition qualquer objeto cortante capaz de ser empunhado ato ou efeito de escapar, fugir

Where the eye mixes faca and fuga

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
faca
4 ch
fuga

Why the eye confuses faca with fuga

A purely visual mix-up. faca (/ˈfa.kɐ/) and fuga (/ˈfu.ɡɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8525, 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/. fuga is at rank #3,622, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfu.ɡɐ/.

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 8525, this pair ranks #65,214 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of faca vs fuga

Shared letters: af. Private to "faca": c. Private to "fuga": gu.

"faca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fuga" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • facaafca · faac · facca · fcaa · ffaca
  • fugaffuga · fgua · fuag · fugga · ufga

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "faca" and "fuga" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfa.kɐ/ versus /ˈfu.ɡɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "faca" or "fuga" show up more?
"fuga" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,622 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

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "faca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fuga" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #65,214 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "faca" and "fuga" 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 #65,214 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