figovsfritoConfusable pair

Quick tell: figo is a noun, frito is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#32,609
“figo” frequency rank
#14,853
“frito” frequency rank
47462
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature figo frito
Definition figo que se frigiu

Where the eye mixes figo and frito

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. figo runs 4 letters (CVCV) against frito's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
figo
5 ch
frito

Visual trap between figo and frito

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: figo is /ˈfi.ɡɔ/ while frito is /ˈfɾi.tu/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47462, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

figo is recorded at frequency rank #32,609, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfi.ɡɔ/. frito is at rank #14,853, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfɾi.tu/.

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 47462, this pair ranks #17,788 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of figo vs frito

Shared letters: fio. Private to "figo": g. Private to "frito": rt.

"figo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "frito" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • figo ← ffigo · fgio · figgo · fiog · ifgo
  • frito ← ffrito · firto · friot · fritto · frrito · frtio · rfito

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "figo" and "frito" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "figo" is a noun and "frito" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "figo" vs "frito" - which ranks higher?
"frito" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,853 in our Portuguese list, against #32,609 for "figo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "figo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "frito" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,788 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "figo" and "frito" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "figo vs filão". 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 #17,788 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