filavsfolhaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,079
“fila” frequency rank
#1,930
“folha” frequency rank
5009
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fila folha
Definition sequência de pessoas ou coisas dispostas de forma organizada, em linha; enfiada órgão da planta, geralmente verde e responsável pela fotossíntese (na maioria das vezes), composta de limbo (estrutura laminar), pecíolo (haste que liga o limbo ao caule) e, algumas vezes, bainha (invólucro alongado na base do pecíolo)

Where the eye mixes fila and folha

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
fila
5 ch
folha

Why the eye confuses fila with folha

A purely visual mix-up. fila (/ˈfi.lɐ/) and folha (/ˈfo.ʎɐ/) 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 5009, 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/. folha is at rank #1,930, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfo.ʎɐ/.

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 5009, this pair ranks #69,716 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fila vs folha

Shared letters: afl. Private to "fila": i. Private to "folha": ho.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • filaffila · fial · filla · flia · ifla
  • folhaffolha · floha · fohla · folah · folhha · follha · oflha

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fila" and "folha" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfi.lɐ/ versus /ˈfo.ʎɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fila" or "folha"?
"folha" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,930 in our Portuguese list, against #3,079 for "fila". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "fila" and "folha" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fila" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "folha" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #69,716 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fila" and "folha" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fila 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 #69,716 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