fase vs fax, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#868
“fase” frequency rank: #14,370
“fax” frequency rank: 15238
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	fase	fax
Definition	cada uma das aparências que a Lua nos apresenta	aparelho transmissor e receptor de documentos em fac-símile

Where the eye mixes fase and fax

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

4 ch

fase

3 ch

fax

Visual trap between fase and fax

A purely visual mix-up. fase (/ˈfa.zɨ/) and fax (/ˈfaks/) 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 15238, 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/. fax is at rank #14,370, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfaks/.

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 15238, this pair ranks #56,635 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fase vs fax

Shared letters: af. Private to "fase": es. Private to "fax": x.

"fase" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fax" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

fase ← afse · faes · fasse · ffase · fsae

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fase" for "fax" ever safe?

No. They are said differently (/ˈfa.zɨ/ versus /ˈfaks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "fase" or "fax" show up more?

"fase" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #868 in our Portuguese list, against #14,370 for "fax". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "fase" and "fax" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "fase" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "fax" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #56,635 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"fase" and "fax" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fava vs fax". 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 #56,635 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.