Which to use
“fome” and “fume” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,047
- “fome” frequency rank
- #32,617
- “fume” frequency rank
- 33664
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fome | fume |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | necessidade de comer ou grande apetite; sofreguidão | gás ou vapor com cheiro forte e perigoso de inalar. São partículas sólidas formadas por condensação do estado gasoso, por exemplo, óxidos de metais volatilizados. |
Where the eye mixes fome and fume
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses fome with fume
A purely visual mix-up. fome (/ˈfɔ.mɨ/) and fume (/fjuːm/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - o in “fome” becomes u in “fume”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33664, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fome is recorded at frequency rank #1,047, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɔ.mɨ/. fume is at rank #32,617, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fjuːm/.
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 33664, this pair ranks #33,778 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fome vs fume
Shared letters: efm. Private to "fome": o. Private to "fume": u.
"fome" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fume" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fome" for "fume" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "fome" or "fume" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "fome" and "fume" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fome" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fume" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #33,778 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fome" and "fume" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fuck vs fume". 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 #33,778 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.