fasevsfradeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#868
“fase” frequency rank
#30,162
“frade” frequency rank
31030
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fase frade
Definition cada uma das aparências que a Lua nos apresenta membro de uma ordem religiosa, em especial as ordens franciscanas, dominicanas, carmelitas e augustinianas; freire

Where the eye mixes fase and frade

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
fase
5 ch
frade

Look-alike desk: fase vs frade

A purely visual mix-up. fase (/ˈfa.zɨ/) and frade (/ˈfɾa.dɨ/) 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 31030, 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/. frade is at rank #30,162, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɾa.dɨ/.

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 31030, this pair ranks #37,184 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fase vs frade

Shared letters: aef. Private to "fase": s. Private to "frade": dr.

"fase" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "frade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • faseafse · faes · fasse · ffase · fsae
  • fradefarde · ffrade · fradde · fraed · frdae · frrade · rfade

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fase" and "frade" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfa.zɨ/ versus /ˈfɾa.dɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fase" or "frade"?
"fase" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #868 in our Portuguese list, against #30,162 for "frade". 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 "frade" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,184 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fase" and "frade" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "frade vs Frau". 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 #37,184 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