fomosvsformosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,012
“fomos” frequency rank
#13,742
“formos” frequency rank
15754
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fomos formos
Definition primeira pessoa do plural do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo ser primeira pessoa do plural do futuro do subjuntivo do verbo ser.

Where the eye mixes fomos and formos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
fomos
6 ch
formos

Visual trap between fomos and formos

A purely visual mix-up. fomos (/ˈfo.mos/) and formos (/ˈfoɾ.mus/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15754, 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/. formos is at rank #13,742, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈfoɾ.mus/.

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 15754, this pair ranks #55,990 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fomos vs formos

Shared letters: fmos. Private to "fomos": -. Private to "formos": r.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fomosffomos · fmoos · fommos · fomoss · fomso · fooms · ofmos
  • formosfformos · fomros · formmos · formoss · formso · foroms · forrmos · fromos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fomos" and "formos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfo.mos/ versus /ˈfoɾ.mus/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "fomos" or "formos" show up more?
"fomos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,012 in our Portuguese list, against #13,742 for "formos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fomos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "formos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #55,990 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fomos" and "formos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "former vs formos". 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 #55,990 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