Which to use
“fada” is a noun and “fodão” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,188
- “fada” frequency rank
- #37,813
- “fodão” frequency rank
- 48001
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fada | fodão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | entidade imaginária feminina e voadora, com poderes mágicos | diz-se de quem fode muito |
Where the eye mixes fada and fodão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fada runs 4 letters (CVCV) against fodão's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fada with fodão
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fada is /ˈfa.dɐ/ while fodão is /fo.'doŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48001, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fada is recorded at frequency rank #10,188, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfa.dɐ/. fodão is at rank #37,813, tagged as anadj, pronounced /fo.'doŋ/.
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 48001, this pair ranks #17,224 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fada vs fodão
Shared letters: df. Private to "fada": a. Private to "fodão": oã.
"fada" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fodão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fada ← afda · faad · fadda · fdaa · ffada
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fada" and "fodão" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "fada" vs "fodão" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "fada" and "fodão" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fodão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #17,224 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fada" and "fodão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filão vs fodão". 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 #17,224 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.