Which to use
“família” and “family” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #224
- “família” frequency rank
- #7,156
- “family” frequency rank
- 7380
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | família | family |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | conjunto das pessoas relacionadas, por criação ou geneticamente, a alguém, linhagem, e.g: pai, mãe, filhos, avôs etc. | família |
Where the eye mixes família and family
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. família runs 7 letters (CVCVCVV) against family's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses família with family
A purely visual mix-up. família (/fɐ.ˈmi.ljɐ/) and family (/ˈfæm(ɪ)li/) 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 7380, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
família is recorded at frequency rank #224, classified as anoun, pronounced /fɐ.ˈmi.ljɐ/. family is at rank #7,156, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfæm(ɪ)li/.
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 7380, this pair ranks #66,761 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of família vs family
Shared letters: afilm. Private to "família": í. Private to "family": y.
"família" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "family" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- family ← afmily · faimly · familly · familyy · famiyl · famliy · fammily · ffamily
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "família" and "family" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "família" vs "family" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "família" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "family" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #66,761 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "família" and "family" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fairy vs family". 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 #66,761 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.