fofovsfofocaTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#7,529
“fofo” frequency rank
#19,437
“fofoca” frequency rank
26966
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fofo fofoca
Definition que cede facilmente à pressão falação a respeito de assuntos alheios ou rumores, normalmente com tom pernicioso

Letter map: fofo vs fofoca

Shared letters muted; letters that set fofo and fofoca apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. fofo runs 4 letters (CVCV) against fofoca's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
fofo
6 ch
fofoca

Grammar separator: fofo vs fofoca

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fofo is anadjective and fofocaanoun. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “fofo” sits inside “fofoca”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26966, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fofo is recorded at frequency rank #7,529, classified as anadj. fofoca is at rank #19,437, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fɔ.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 26966, this pair ranks #42,079 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fofo vs fofoca

Shared letters: fo. Private to "fofo": -. Private to "fofoca": ac.

"fofo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fofoca" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fofo ← ffofo · ffoo · foffo · foof · offo
  • fofoca ← ffofoca · ffooca · fofcoa · foffoca · fofoac · fofocca · foofca · offoca

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fofo" and "fofoca" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fofo" is an adjective and "fofoca" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fofo" vs "fofoca" - which ranks higher?
"fofo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,529 in our Portuguese list, against #19,437 for "fofoca". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "fofo" vs "fofoca" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fofo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fofoca" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,079 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fofo" and "fofoca" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fofoca vs fogaça". 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 #42,079 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