fixovsfrisoTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#7,409
“fixo” frequency rank
#47,371
“friso” frequency rank
54780
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fixo friso
Definition o mesmo que fixado; firme, inamovível, bem preso: faixa ou tira ao longo de uma parede usada como ornamento

Where the eye mixes fixo and friso

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

4 ch
fixo
5 ch
friso

Visual trap between fixo and friso

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fixo is /ˈfi.ksu/ while friso is /ˈfɾi.zu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 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 54780, 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/. friso is at rank #47,371, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɾi.zu/.

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 54780, this pair ranks #11,044 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fixo vs friso

Shared letters: fio. Private to "fixo": x. Private to "friso": rs.

"fixo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "friso" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fixoffixo · fiox · fixxo · fxio · ifxo
  • frisoffriso · firso · frios · frisso · frriso · frsio · rfiso

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fixo" and "friso" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fixo" is an adjective and "friso" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "fixo" or "friso" show up more?
"fixo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,409 in our Portuguese list, against #47,371 for "friso". 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 "fixo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "friso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,044 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fixo" and "friso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feioso 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 #11,044 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