filavsfixaTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#3,079
“fila” frequency rank
#7,641
“fixa” frequency rank
10720
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fila fixa
Definition sequência de pessoas ou coisas dispostas de forma organizada, em linha; enfiada terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo fixar

Letter map: fila vs fixa

Shared letters muted; letters that set fila and fixa apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
fila
4 ch
fixa

Role in the sentence - fila and fixa

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fila is anoun and fixaaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - l in “fila” becomes x in “fixa”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10720, 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/. fixa is at rank #7,641, tagged as averb.

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 10720, this pair ranks #62,304 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fila vs fixa

Shared letters: afi. Private to "fila": l. Private to "fixa": x.

"fila" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fixa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • filaffila · fial · filla · flia · ifla
  • fixaffixa · fiax · fixxa · fxia · ifxa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fila" for "fixa" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fila" is a noun and "fixa" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fila" vs "fixa" - which ranks higher?
"fila" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,079 in our Portuguese list, against #7,641 for "fixa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "fila" vs "fixa" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fila" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fixa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #62,304 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fila" and "fixa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filão vs fixa". 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 #62,304 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