filavsfintaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,079
“fila” frequency rank
#48,933
“finta” frequency rank
52012
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fila finta
Definition sequência de pessoas ou coisas dispostas de forma organizada, em linha; enfiada drible, movimento que engana o oponente

Where the eye mixes fila and finta

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

4 ch
fila
5 ch
finta

Why the eye confuses fila with finta

A purely visual mix-up. fila (/ˈfi.lɐ/) and finta (/ˈfĩ.tɐ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52012, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fila is recorded at frequency rank #3,079, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfi.lɐ/. finta is at rank #48,933, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfĩ.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 52012, this pair ranks #13,112 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fila vs finta

Shared letters: afi. Private to "fila": l. Private to "finta": nt.

"fila" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "finta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fila ← ffila · fial · filla · flia · ifla
  • finta ← ffinta · finat · finnta · fintta · fitna · fnita · ifnta

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fila" for "finta" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfi.lɐ/ versus /ˈfĩ.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fila" vs "finta" - which ranks higher?
"fila" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,079 in our Portuguese list, against #48,933 for "finta". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "fila" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "finta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,112 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fila" and "finta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "findo vs finta". 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 #13,112 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