filavsfrisaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,079
“fila” frequency rank
#34,729
“frisa” frequency rank
37808
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fila frisa
Definition sequência de pessoas ou coisas dispostas de forma organizada, em linha; enfiada tecido grosseiro de lã

Where the eye mixes fila and frisa

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

4 ch
fila
5 ch
frisa

Visual trap between fila and frisa

A purely visual mix-up. fila (/ˈfi.lɐ/) and frisa (/ˈfɾi.zɐ/) 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 37808, 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/. frisa is at rank #34,729, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɾi.zɐ/.

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 37808, this pair ranks #28,763 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fila vs frisa

Shared letters: afi. Private to "fila": l. Private to "frisa": rs.

"fila" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "frisa" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • filaffila · fial · filla · flia · ifla
  • frisaffrisa · firsa · frias · frissa · frrisa · frsia · rfisa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fila" and "frisa" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfi.lɐ/ versus /ˈfɾi.zɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fila" vs "frisa" - which ranks higher?
"fila" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,079 in our Portuguese list, against #34,729 for "frisa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "fila" and "frisa" 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 "frisa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,763 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fila" and "frisa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "frisa vs friso". 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 #28,763 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