fixovsfreixoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: fixo is a adjective, freixo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fixo” is an adjective and “freixo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,409
“fixo” frequency rank
#18,334
“freixo” frequency rank
25743
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fixo freixo
Definition o mesmo que fixado; firme, inamovível, bem preso: designação comum a várias espécies de árvores da família das Oleáceas, do género Fraxinus

Where the eye mixes fixo and freixo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fixo runs 4 letters (CVCV) against freixo's 6 (CCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
fixo
6 ch
freixo

Visual trap between fixo and freixo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fixo is /ˈfi.ksu/ while freixo is /ˈfɾɐj.ʃu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25743, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fixo is recorded at frequency rank #7,409, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈfi.ksu/. freixo is at rank #18,334, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɾɐj.ʃu/.

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 25743, this pair ranks #43,522 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fixo vs freixo

Shared letters: fiox. Private to "fixo": -. Private to "freixo": er.

"fixo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "freixo" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fixo ← ffixo · fiox · fixxo · fxio · ifxo
  • freixo ← ferixo · ffreixo · freiox · freixxo · frexio · friexo · frreixo · rfeixo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fixo" and "freixo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fixo" is an adjective and "freixo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fixo" or "freixo"?
"fixo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,409 in our Portuguese list, against #18,334 for "freixo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fixo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "freixo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,522 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fixo" and "freixo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "freixo 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 #43,522 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