fontevsfronteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#894
“fonte” frequency rank
#26,397
“fronte” frequency rank
27291
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fonte fronte
Definition lugar onde nasce água parte superior do rosto (desde a raiz dos cabelos até às sobrancelhas)

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fonte and fronte apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
fonte
6 ch
fronte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. fonte (/ˈfõ.tɨ/) and fronte (/ˈfɾõ.tɨ/) 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 27291, 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/. fronte is at rank #26,397, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɾõ.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 27291, this pair ranks #41,711 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fonte vs fronte

Shared letters: efnot. Private to "fonte": -. Private to "fronte": r.

"fonte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "fronte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fonteffonte · fnote · fonet · fonnte · fontte · fotne · ofnte
  • fronteffronte · fornte · frnote · fronet · fronnte · frontte · frotne · frronte

Frequency comparison

fonte#894
fronte#26,397

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fonte" and "fronte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfõ.tɨ/ versus /ˈfɾõ.tɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fonte" or "fronte"?
"fonte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #894 in our Portuguese list, against #26,397 for "fronte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering fonte vs fronte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fonte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list