fechovsflechaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,190
“fecho” frequency rank
#12,251
“flecha” frequency rank
21441
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fecho flecha
Definition qualquer objeto com que se fecha alguma coisa arma longa, fina, geralmente pontiaguda, lançada por um arco, com penas na traseira para controlar o voo

Where the eye mixes fecho and flecha

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
fecho
6 ch
flecha

Why the eye confuses fecho with flecha

A purely visual mix-up. fecho (/ˈfɐj.ʃu/) and flecha (/ˈflɛ.ʃɐ/) 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 21441, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fecho is recorded at frequency rank #9,190, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɐj.ʃu/. flecha is at rank #12,251, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈflɛ.ʃɐ/.

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 21441, this pair ranks #48,820 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fecho vs flecha

Shared letters: cefh. Private to "fecho": o. Private to "flecha": al.

"fecho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "flecha" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fechoefcho · fceho · feccho · fechho · fecoh · fehco · ffecho
  • flechafelcha · fflecha · flceha · flecah · fleccha · flechha · flehca · fllecha

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fecho" and "flecha" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfɐj.ʃu/ versus /ˈflɛ.ʃɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fecho" or "flecha"?
"fecho" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,190 in our Portuguese list, against #12,251 for "flecha". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fecho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "flecha" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #48,820 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fecho" and "flecha" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flecha vs flesh". 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 #48,820 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