fasevsfavaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#868
“fase” frequency rank
#46,328
“fava” frequency rank
47196
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fase fava
Definition cada uma das aparências que a Lua nos apresenta fava, planta leguminosa cujas sementes são usadas na alimentação

Where the eye mixes fase and fava

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fase and fava follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
fase
4 ch
fava

Why the eye confuses fase with fava

A purely visual mix-up. fase (/ˈfa.zɨ/) and fava (/ˈfa.bɐ/) 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 47196, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fase is recorded at frequency rank #868, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfa.zɨ/. fava is at rank #46,328, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfa.bɐ/.

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 47196, this pair ranks #18,077 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fase vs fava

Shared letters: af. Private to "fase": es. Private to "fava": v.

"fase" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fava" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fase ← afse · faes · fasse · ffase · fsae
  • fava ← afva · faav · favva · ffava · fvaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fase" and "fava" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfa.zɨ/ versus /ˈfa.bɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fase" or "fava"?
"fase" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #868 in our Portuguese list, against #46,328 for "fava". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fase" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fava" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,077 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fase" and "fava" 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 #18,077 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