Which to use
“fobia” is a noun and “foca” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,673
- “fobia” frequency rank
- #8,772
- “foca” frequency rank
- 34445
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fobia | foca |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | transtorno psicológico no qual a pessoa tem um medo ou aversão exagerado de alguma coisa | forma atenuada de, e o mesmo que foda |
Where the eye mixes fobia and foca
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fobia runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against foca's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fobia and foca
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fobia is /fu.ˈbi.ɐ/ while foca is /ˈfɔ.kɐ/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34445, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fobia is recorded at frequency rank #25,673, classified as anoun, pronounced /fu.ˈbi.ɐ/. foca is at rank #8,772, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfɔ.kɐ/.
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 34445, this pair ranks #32,815 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fobia vs foca
Shared letters: afo. Private to "fobia": bi. Private to "foca": c.
"fobia" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "foca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fobia" for "foca" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "fobia" or "foca" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fobia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foca" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #32,815 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fobia" and "foca" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faia vs fobia". 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 #32,815 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.