Which to use
“ferra” and “ferrão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,575
- “ferra” frequency rank
- #31,372
- “ferrão” frequency rank
- 71947
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ferra | ferrão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | a operação de ferrar o gado | órgão retrátil dos insetos |
Letter map: ferra vs ferrão
Shared letters muted; letters that set ferra and ferrão apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. ferra runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against ferrão's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Pair insight - ferra / ferrão
ferra and ferrão are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71947, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ferra is recorded at frequency rank #40,575, classified as anoun. ferrão is at rank #31,372, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fɨ.ˈRɐ̃w̃/.
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 71947, this pair ranks #3,203 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ferra vs ferrão
Shared letters: efr. Private to "ferra": a. Private to "ferrão": oã.
"ferra" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "ferrão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ferra ← efrra · fferra · frera
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ferra" and "ferrão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ferra" or "ferrão" show up more?
After this comparison
You've compared "ferra" and "ferrão". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "ferra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ferrão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #3,203 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ferra" and "ferrão" 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 #3,203 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.