Which to use
“falho” is an adjective and “falir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,663
- “falho” frequency rank
- #27,479
- “falir” frequency rank
- 51142
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | falho | falir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | que tem falha | ir à falência, não ter como cumprir com suas obrigações financeiras |
Letter map: falho vs falir
Shared letters muted; letters that set falho and falir apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. falho (CVCCV) and falir (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Grammar separator: falho vs falir
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: falho is anadjective and faliraverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51142, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
falho is recorded at frequency rank #23,663, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈfa.ʎu/. falir is at rank #27,479, tagged as averb.
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 51142, this pair ranks #13,853 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of falho vs falir
Shared letters: afl. Private to "falho": ho. Private to "falir": ir.
"falho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "falir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "falho" and "falir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "falho" or "falir" show up more?
After this comparison
Pair "falho" vs "falir" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "falho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "falir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #13,853 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "falho" and "falir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "falho vs filão". 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 #13,853 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.