factvsfamaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#30,550
“fact” frequency rank
#3,766
“fama” frequency rank
34316
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fact fama
Definition facto ^((português europeu)) ou fato ^((português do Brasil)) conceito (bom ou mau) que um grupo humano tem de alguém ou de algo; reputação

Where the eye mixes fact and fama

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

4 ch
fact
4 ch
fama

Look-alike desk: fact vs fama

A purely visual mix-up. fact (/ˈfækt/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34316, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fact is recorded at frequency rank #30,550, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfækt/. 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 34316, this pair ranks #32,985 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fact vs fama

Shared letters: af. Private to "fact": ct. Private to "fama": m.

"fact" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "fama" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • factafct · facct · factt · fatc · fcat · ffact
  • famaafma · faam · famma · ffama · fmaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fact" for "fama" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfækt/ versus /ˈfɐ.mɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fact" or "fama"?
"fama" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,766 in our Portuguese list, against #30,550 for "fact". 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 "fact" 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 #32,985 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fact" and "fama" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fact vs fava". 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 #32,985 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