feiovsfreiConfusable pair

Quick tell: feio is a adjective, frei is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#4,727
“feio” frequency rank
#9,500
“frei” frequency rank
14227
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature feio frei
Definition não estético, horrendo variante ortográfica de freire

Letter map: feio vs frei

Shared letters muted; letters that set feio and frei apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
feio
4 ch
frei

Role in the sentence - feio and frei

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: feio is anadjective and freianoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14227, 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/. frei is at rank #9,500, tagged as anoun.

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 14227, this pair ranks #57,931 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of feio vs frei

Shared letters: efi. Private to "feio": o. Private to "frei": r.

"feio" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "frei" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • feioefio · feoi · ffeio · fieo
  • freiferi · ffrei · frie · frrei · rfei

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "feio" for "frei" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "feio" is an adjective and "frei" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "feio" vs "frei" - which ranks higher?
"feio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,727 in our Portuguese list, against #9,500 for "frei". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "feio" and "frei". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "feio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "frei" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,931 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "feio" and "frei" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feio vs fern". 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 #57,931 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