famavsfaseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,766
“fama” frequency rank
#868
“fase” frequency rank
4634
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fama fase
Definition conceito (bom ou mau) que um grupo humano tem de alguém ou de algo; reputação cada uma das aparências que a Lua nos apresenta

Where the eye mixes fama and fase

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
fama
4 ch
fase

Look-alike desk: fama vs fase

A purely visual mix-up. fama (/ˈfɐ.mɐ/) and fase (/ˈfa.zɨ/) 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 4634, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fama is recorded at frequency rank #3,766, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɐ.mɐ/. fase is at rank #868, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfa.zɨ/.

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 4634, this pair ranks #70,203 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fama vs fase

Shared letters: af. Private to "fama": m. Private to "fase": es.

"fama" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fase" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • famaafma · faam · famma · ffama · fmaa
  • faseafse · faes · fasse · ffase · fsae

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fama" and "fase" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfɐ.mɐ/ versus /ˈfa.zɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fama" vs "fase" - which ranks higher?
"fase" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #868 in our Portuguese list, against #3,766 for "fama". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fama" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fase" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,203 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fama" and "fase" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fama vs fava". 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 #70,203 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