ferozvsferraWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#14,591
“feroz” frequency rank
#40,575
“ferra” frequency rank
55166
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature feroz ferra
Definition diz-se de animal bravio, selvagem a operação de ferrar o gado

Letter map: feroz vs ferra

Shared letters muted; letters that set feroz and ferra apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. feroz (CVCVC) and ferra (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
feroz
5 ch
ferra

Role in the sentence - feroz and ferra

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: feroz is anadjective and ferraanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55166, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

feroz is recorded at frequency rank #14,591, classified as anadj. ferra is at rank #40,575, 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 55166, this pair ranks #10,768 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of feroz vs ferra

Shared letters: efr. Private to "feroz": oz. Private to "ferra": a.

"feroz" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "ferra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • feroz ← efroz · feorz · ferozz · ferroz · ferzo · fferoz · freoz
  • ferra ← efrra · fferra · frera

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "feroz" and "ferra" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "feroz" is an adjective and "ferra" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "feroz" or "ferra" show up more?
"feroz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,591 in our Portuguese list, against #40,575 for "ferra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "feroz" and "ferra".

  • Full dictionary entry for "feroz" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ferra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,768 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "feroz" and "ferra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fern vs ferra". 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 #10,768 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