Which to use
“falho” is an adjective and “favo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,663
- “falho” frequency rank
- #45,853
- “favo” frequency rank
- 69516
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | falho | favo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | que tem falha | alvéolo de cera hexagonal e o seu conteúdo, que as abelhas formam nas suas colmeias para armazém de mel, pólen, e cuidado dos ovos e larvas |
Where the eye mixes falho and favo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. falho runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against favo's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: falho vs favo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: falho is /ˈfa.ʎu/ while favo is /ˈfa.vu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69516, 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/. favo is at rank #45,853, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfa.vu/.
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 69516, this pair ranks #3,926 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of falho vs favo
Shared letters: afo. Private to "falho": hl. Private to "favo": v.
"falho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "favo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "falho" and "favo" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "falho" or "favo" show up more?
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 "falho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "favo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #3,926 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "falho" and "favo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fava vs favo". 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 #3,926 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.