faíscavsfrisaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#27,481
“faísca” frequency rank
#34,729
“frisa” frequency rank
62210
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faísca frisa
Definition descarga elétrica entre dois corpos eletrizados tecido grosseiro de lã

Where the eye mixes faísca and frisa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. faísca runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against frisa's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
faísca
5 ch
frisa

Why the eye confuses faísca with frisa

A purely visual mix-up. faísca (/fɐ.ˈiʃ.kɐ/) and frisa (/ˈfɾi.zɐ/) 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 62210, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

faísca is recorded at frequency rank #27,481, classified as anoun, pronounced /fɐ.ˈiʃ.kɐ/. frisa is at rank #34,729, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɾi.zɐ/.

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 62210, this pair ranks #6,774 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of faísca vs frisa

Shared letters: afs. Private to "faísca": . Private to "frisa": ir.

"faísca" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "frisa" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • frisaffrisa · firsa · frias · frissa · frrisa · frsia · rfisa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "faísca" and "frisa" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/fɐ.ˈiʃ.kɐ/ versus /ˈfɾi.zɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "faísca" vs "frisa" - which ranks higher?
"faísca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,481 in our Portuguese list, against #34,729 for "frisa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "faísca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "frisa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #6,774 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "faísca" and "frisa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "frisa vs friso". 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 #6,774 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