fitovsfixoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,597
“fito” frequency rank
#7,409
“fixo” frequency rank
43006
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fito fixo
Definition erguido, direito o mesmo que fixado; firme, inamovível, bem preso:

Where the eye mixes fito and fixo

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

4 ch
fito
4 ch
fixo

Look-alike desk: fito vs fixo

A purely visual mix-up. fito (/ˈfi.tu/) and fixo (/ˈfi.ksu/) 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 a single letter - t in “fito” becomes x in “fixo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43006, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fito is recorded at frequency rank #35,597, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈfi.tu/. fixo is at rank #7,409, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfi.ksu/.

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 43006, this pair ranks #22,681 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fito vs fixo

Shared letters: fio. Private to "fito": t. Private to "fixo": x.

"fito" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fixo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fitoffito · fiot · fitto · ftio · ifto
  • fixoffixo · fiox · fixxo · fxio · ifxo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fito" for "fixo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfi.tu/ versus /ˈfi.ksu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "fito" or "fixo" show up more?
"fixo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,409 in our Portuguese list, against #35,597 for "fito". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fito" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fixo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,681 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fito" and "fixo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filão vs fito". 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 #22,681 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