fadovsfusoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#22,319
“fado” frequency rank
#20,614
“fuso” frequency rank
42933
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fado fuso
Definition destino seção de superfície esférica compreendida entre dois semi-círculos de uma esfera

Where the eye mixes fado and fuso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fado and fuso follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
fado
4 ch
fuso

Visual trap between fado and fuso

A purely visual mix-up. fado (/ˈfa.du/) and fuso (/ˈfu.zu/) 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 42933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fado is recorded at frequency rank #22,319, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfa.du/. fuso is at rank #20,614, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfu.zu/.

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 42933, this pair ranks #22,765 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fado vs fuso

Shared letters: fo. Private to "fado": ad. Private to "fuso": su.

"fado" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fuso" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fado ← afdo · faddo · faod · fdao · ffado
  • fuso ← ffuso · fsuo · fuos · fusso · ufso

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fado" for "fuso" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfa.du/ versus /ˈfu.zu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fado" vs "fuso" - which ranks higher?
"fuso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,614 in our Portuguese list, against #22,319 for "fado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "fado" and "fuso" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fuso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,765 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fado" and "fuso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fosco vs fuso". 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 #22,765 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