fomosvsformolConfusable pair

Quick tell: fomos is a verb, formol is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fomos” is a verb and “formol” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,012
“fomos” frequency rank
#44,373
“formol” frequency rank
46385
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fomos formol
Definition primeira pessoa do plural do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo ser solução aquosa de formaldeído (CH₂O)

Where the eye mixes fomos and formol

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
fomos
6 ch
formol

Look-alike desk: fomos vs formol

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fomos is /ˈfo.mos/ while formol is /fuɾ.ˈmɔɫ/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fomos is recorded at frequency rank #2,012, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈfo.mos/. formol is at rank #44,373, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fuɾ.ˈmɔɫ/.

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 46385, this pair ranks #18,914 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fomos vs formol

Shared letters: fmo. Private to "fomos": s. Private to "formol": lr.

"fomos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "formol" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fomosffomos · fmoos · fommos · fomoss · fomso · fooms · ofmos
  • formolfformol · fomrol · formlo · formmol · formoll · foroml · forrmol · fromol

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fomos" and "formol" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fomos" is a verb and "formol" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "fomos" or "formol" show up more?
"fomos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,012 in our Portuguese list, against #44,373 for "formol". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fomos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "formol" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,914 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fomos" and "formol" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "former vs formol". 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 #18,914 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