focovsfonWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: foco is a noun, fon is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,491
“foco” frequency rank
#44,372
“fon” frequency rank
45863
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foco fon
Definition nitidez de uma imagem relativo à etnia dos fons

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set foco and fon apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
foco
3 ch
fon

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: foco is /ˈfɔ.ko/ while fon is /ˈfõ/. 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 45863, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

foco is recorded at frequency rank #1,491, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɔ.ko/. fon is at rank #44,372, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfõ/.

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 45863, this pair ranks #19,519 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of foco vs fon

Shared letters: fo. Private to "foco": c. Private to "fon": n.

"foco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fon" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • focofcoo · ffoco · focco · fooc · ofco

Frequency comparison

foco#1,491
fon#44,372

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "foco" and "fon" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "foco" is a noun and "fon" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "foco" or "fon"?
"foco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,491 in our Portuguese list, against #44,372 for "fon". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering foco vs fon

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “foco”; for an adjective, it's “fon”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “foco” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list