Which to use
“fan” is a noun and “flat” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,358
- “fan” frequency rank
- #21,752
- “flat” frequency rank
- 32110
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fan | flat |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | fã | chato, liso, plano |
Letter map: fan vs flat
Shared letters muted; letters that set fan and flat apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Grammar separator: fan vs flat
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fan is anoun and flatanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fan is recorded at frequency rank #10,358, classified as anoun. flat is at rank #21,752, tagged as anadj, pronounced /flæt/.
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 32110, this pair ranks #35,792 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fan vs flat
Shared letters: af. Private to "fan": n. Private to "flat": lt.
"fan" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "flat" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- flat ← falt · fflat · flatt · fllat · flta · lfat
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fan" for "flat" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "fan" or "flat" show up more?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "fan" and "flat".
- Full dictionary entry for "fan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flat" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #35,792 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fan" and "flat" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filão vs flat". 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 #35,792 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.