Which to use
“fogão” is a noun and “fosco” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,722
- “fogão” frequency rank
- #48,427
- “fosco” frequency rank
- 59149
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fogão | fosco |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | aparelho doméstico para cozinhar e aquecer | não brunido, sem brilho, embaciado, não transparente |
Where the eye mixes fogão and fosco
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fogão (CVCVV) and fosco (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses fogão with fosco
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fogão is /fu.ˈɡɐ̃w̃/ while fosco is /ˈfoʃ.ku/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fogão is recorded at frequency rank #10,722, classified as anoun, pronounced /fu.ˈɡɐ̃w̃/. fosco is at rank #48,427, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfoʃ.ku/.
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 59149, this pair ranks #8,339 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fogão vs fosco
Shared letters: fo. Private to "fogão": gã. Private to "fosco": cs.
"fogão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "fosco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fosco ← ffosco · focso · foscco · fosoc · fossco · fsoco · ofsco
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fogão" and "fosco" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "fogão" or "fosco" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fogão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fosco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #8,339 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fogão" and "fosco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fisco vs fosco". 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 #8,339 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.