Which to use
“fada” and “frade” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,188
- “fada” frequency rank
- #30,162
- “frade” frequency rank
- 40350
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fada | frade |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | entidade imaginária feminina e voadora, com poderes mágicos | membro de uma ordem religiosa, em especial as ordens franciscanas, dominicanas, carmelitas e augustinianas; freire |
Where the eye mixes fada and frade
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fada vs frade
A purely visual mix-up. fada (/ˈfa.dɐ/) and frade (/ˈfɾa.dɨ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40350, 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/. frade is at rank #30,162, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɾa.dɨ/.
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 40350, this pair ranks #25,772 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fada vs frade
Shared letters: adf. Private to "fada": -. Private to "frade": er.
"fada" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "frade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fada" for "frade" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fada" vs "frade" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "frade" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #25,772 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fada" and "frade" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "frade vs Frau". 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 #25,772 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.