fogãovsfossoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“fogão” and “fosso” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,722
“fogão” frequency rank
#15,815
“fosso” frequency rank
26537
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fogão fosso
Definition aparelho doméstico para cozinhar e aquecer cova

Where the eye mixes fogão and fosso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fogão (CVCVV) and fosso (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
fogão
5 ch
fosso

Look-alike desk: fogão vs fosso

A purely visual mix-up. fogão (/fu.ˈɡɐ̃w̃/) and fosso (/ˈfo.su/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26537, 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/. fosso is at rank #15,815, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfo.su/.

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 26537, this pair ranks #42,613 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fogão vs fosso

Shared letters: fo. Private to "fogão": gã. Private to "fosso": s.

"fogão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "fosso" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fosso ← ffosso · foso · fosos · fsoso · ofsso

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fogão" and "fosso" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/fu.ˈɡɐ̃w̃/ versus /ˈfo.su/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fogão" vs "fosso" - which ranks higher?
"fogão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,722 in our Portuguese list, against #15,815 for "fosso". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "fosso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,613 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fogão" and "fosso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fosco vs fosso". 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 #42,613 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