fasevsfishConfusable pair

Quick tell: fase is a noun, fish is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fase” is a noun and “fish” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#868
“fase” frequency rank
#18,872
“fish” frequency rank
19740
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fase fish
Definition cada uma das aparências que a Lua nos apresenta de peixe, relacionado a peixe:

Where the eye mixes fase and fish

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

4 ch
fase
4 ch
fish

Visual trap between fase and fish

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fase is /ˈfa.zɨ/ while fish is /ˈfɪʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19740, 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/. fish is at rank #18,872, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfɪʃ/.

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 19740, this pair ranks #50,917 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fase vs fish

Shared letters: fs. Private to "fase": ae. Private to "fish": hi.

"fase" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fish" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • faseafse · faes · fasse · ffase · fsae
  • fishffish · fihs · fishh · fissh · fsih · ifsh

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fase" and "fish" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fase" is a noun and "fish" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fase" or "fish"?
"fase" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #868 in our Portuguese list, against #18,872 for "fish". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fase" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fish" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,917 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fase" and "fish" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fish vs friso". 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 #50,917 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