falharvsfartarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,490
“falhar” frequency rank
#48,928
“fartar” frequency rank
58418
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature falhar fartar
Definition rachar saciar a fome ou a sede a

Where the eye mixes falhar and fartar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. falhar and fartar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
falhar
6 ch
fartar

Look-alike desk: falhar vs fartar

A purely visual mix-up. falhar (/fɐ.ˈʎaɾ/) and fartar (/fɐɾ.ˈtaɾ/) 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 58418, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

falhar is recorded at frequency rank #9,490, classified as averb, pronounced /fɐ.ˈʎaɾ/. fartar is at rank #48,928, tagged as averb, pronounced /fɐɾ.ˈtaɾ/.

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 58418, this pair ranks #8,751 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of falhar vs fartar

Shared letters: afr. Private to "falhar": hl. Private to "fartar": t.

"falhar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "fartar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • falhar ← aflhar · fahlar · falahr · falharr · falhhar · falhra · fallhar · ffalhar
  • fartar ← afrtar · faratr · farrtar · fartarr · fartra · farttar · fatrar · ffartar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "falhar" and "fartar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/fɐ.ˈʎaɾ/ versus /fɐɾ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "falhar" vs "fartar" - which ranks higher?
"falhar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,490 in our Portuguese list, against #48,928 for "fartar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "falhar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fartar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,751 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "falhar" and "fartar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fartar vs furtar". 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 #8,751 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