Which to use
“fonte” and “frete” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #894
- “fonte” frequency rank
- #12,685
- “frete” frequency rank
- 13579
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fonte | frete |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | lugar onde nasce água | aluguel de embarcação |
Where the eye mixes fonte and frete
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fonte (CVCCV) and frete (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between fonte and frete
A purely visual mix-up. fonte (/ˈfõ.tɨ/) and frete (/ˈfɾɛ.tɨ/) 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 13579, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fonte is recorded at frequency rank #894, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfõ.tɨ/. frete is at rank #12,685, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɾɛ.tɨ/.
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 13579, this pair ranks #58,717 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fonte vs frete
Shared letters: eft. Private to "fonte": no. Private to "frete": r.
"fonte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "frete" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fonte" and "frete" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "fonte" or "frete" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fonte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "frete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #58,717 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fonte" and "frete" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "finta vs fonte". 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 #58,717 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.