filvsfiléConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#35,592
“fil” frequency rank
#17,797
“filé” frequency rank
53389
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fil filé
Definition fio empenho

Letter map: fil vs filé

Shared letters muted; letters that set fil and filé apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

3 ch
fil
4 ch
filé

Corpus notes: fil and filé

fil and filé 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 extra letter(s) - “fil” sits inside “filé”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53389, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fil is recorded at frequency rank #35,592, classified as anoun, pronounced /fil/. filé is at rank #17,797, 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 53389, this pair ranks #12,062 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fil vs filé

Shared letters: fil. Private to "fil": -. Private to "filé": é.

"fil" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "filé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fil" and "filé" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “fil” sits inside “filé”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "fil" vs "filé" - which ranks higher?
"filé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,797 in our Portuguese list, against #35,592 for "fil". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "fil" and "filé".

  • Full dictionary entry for "fil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "filé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,062 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fil" and "filé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fil vs filão". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #12,062 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