fichavsfitaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ficha is a verb, fita is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ficha” is a verb and “fita” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,988
“ficha” frequency rank
#3,905
“fita” frequency rank
7893
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ficha fita
Definition terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo fichar objeto de plástico que serve para reproduzir filmes

Where the eye mixes ficha and fita

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
ficha
4 ch
fita

Visual trap between ficha and fita

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ficha is /ˈfi.ʃɐ/ while fita is /ˈfi.tɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7893, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ficha is recorded at frequency rank #3,988, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈfi.ʃɐ/. fita is at rank #3,905, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfi.tɐ/.

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 7893, this pair ranks #66,086 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ficha vs fita

Shared letters: afi. Private to "ficha": ch. Private to "fita": t.

"ficha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "fita" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fichafciha · fficha · ficah · ficcha · fichha · fihca · ifcha
  • fitaffita · fiat · fitta · ftia · ifta

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ficha" and "fita" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ficha" is a verb and "fita" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ficha" vs "fita" - which ranks higher?
"fita" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,905 in our Portuguese list, against #3,988 for "ficha". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ficha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fita" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,086 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ficha" and "fita" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filão vs fita". 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 #66,086 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