fil vs fui, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#35,592
“fil” frequency rank: #365
“fui” frequency rank: 35957
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	fil	fui
Definition	fio	primeira pessoa do singular do pretérito perfeito simples do indicativo do verbo ir:

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fil and fui apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

fil

3 ch

fui

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fil is /fil/ while fui is /ˈfuj/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35957, 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/. fui is at rank #365, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈfuj/.

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 35957, this pair ranks #30,970 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fil vs fui

Shared letters: fi. Private to "fil": l. Private to "fui": u.

"fil" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "fui" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

fil#35,592

fui#365

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fil" and "fui" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fil" is a noun and "fui" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "fil" or "fui"?

"fui" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #365 in our Portuguese list, against #35,592 for "fil". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering fil vs fui

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “fil”; for a verb, it's “fui”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fil” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable