fedorvsferirWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fedor is a noun, ferir is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fedor” is a noun and “ferir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,605
“fedor” frequency rank
#10,191
“ferir” frequency rank
42796
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fedor ferir
Definition mau cheiro causar ferimento a

Where the eye mixes fedor and ferir

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

5 ch
fedor
5 ch
ferir

Visual trap between fedor and ferir

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fedor is /fɨ.ˈdoɾ/ while ferir is /fɨ.ˈɾiɾ/. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fedor is recorded at frequency rank #32,605, classified as anoun, pronounced /fɨ.ˈdoɾ/. ferir is at rank #10,191, tagged as averb, pronounced /fɨ.ˈɾiɾ/.

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 42796, this pair ranks #22,925 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fedor vs ferir

Shared letters: efr. Private to "fedor": do. Private to "ferir": i.

"fedor" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "ferir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fedorefdor · fdeor · feddor · fedorr · fedro · feodr · ffedor
  • ferirefrir · feirr · ferirr · ferri · ferrir · fferir · freir

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fedor" and "ferir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fedor" is a noun and "ferir" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fedor" or "ferir"?
"ferir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,191 in our Portuguese list, against #32,605 for "fedor". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fedor" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ferir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,925 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fedor" and "ferir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fedor vs fiador". 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 #22,925 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