Which to use
“feio” is an adjective and “felino” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,727
- “feio” frequency rank
- #32,606
- “felino” frequency rank
- 37333
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | feio | felino |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | não estético, horrendo | espécime pertencente à família de animais da qual fazem parte: gatos, leões, panteras, tigres, onças |
Where the eye mixes feio and felino
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. feio runs 4 letters (CVVV) against felino's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses feio with felino
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: feio is /ˈfɐj.u/ while felino is /fɨ.ˈli.nu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37333, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
feio is recorded at frequency rank #4,727, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈfɐj.u/. felino is at rank #32,606, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fɨ.ˈli.nu/.
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 37333, this pair ranks #29,304 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of feio vs felino
Shared letters: efio. Private to "feio": -. Private to "felino": ln.
"feio" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "felino" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "feio" for "felino" ever safe?
Which is more common, "feio" or "felino"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "feio" and "felino" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "feio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "felino" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #29,304 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "feio" and "felino" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "felino vs feltro". 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 #29,304 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.