fezvsfezesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“fez” and “fezes” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#203
“fez” frequency rank
#15,115
“fezes” frequency rank
15318
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fez fezes
Definition barrete em forma de cone truncado (usado por alguns muçulmanos) substância resultante do processo de digestão que não foi aproveitada pelo organismo; excremento

Where the eye mixes fez and fezes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fez runs 3 letters (CVC) against fezes's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
fez
5 ch
fezes

Look-alike desk: fez vs fezes

A purely visual mix-up. fez (/ˈfes/) and fezes (/ˈfɛ.zis/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “fez” sits inside “fezes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fez is recorded at frequency rank #203, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfes/. fezes is at rank #15,115, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɛ.zis/.

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 15318, this pair ranks #56,528 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fez vs fezes

Shared letters: efz. Private to "fez": -. Private to "fezes": s.

"fez" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "fezes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fezes ← efzes · feezs · fezess · fezse · fezzes · ffezes · fzees

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fez" and "fezes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfes/ versus /ˈfɛ.zis/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "fez" or "fezes" show up more?
"fez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #203 in our Portuguese list, against #15,115 for "fezes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fezes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,528 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fez" and "fezes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fales vs fezes". 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 #56,528 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