foquevsfosteConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#34,289
“foque” frequency rank
#11,469
“foste” frequency rank
45758
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foque foste
Definition vela triangular colocada à frente do mastro principal, geralmente içada no estai de proa segunda pessoa do singular do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo ser

Letter map: foque vs foste

Shared letters muted; letters that set foque and foste apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. foque (CVCVV) and foste (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
foque
5 ch
foste

Role in the sentence - foque and foste

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: foque is anoun and fosteaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45758, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

foque is recorded at frequency rank #34,289, classified as anoun. foste is at rank #11,469, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈfos.ʧi/.

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 45758, this pair ranks #19,637 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of foque vs foste

Shared letters: efo. Private to "foque": qu. Private to "foste": st.

"foque" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "foste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foque ← ffoque · foqeu · foqque · fouqe · fqoue · ofque
  • foste ← ffoste · foset · fosste · fostte · fotse · fsote · ofste

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "foque" and "foste" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "foque" is a noun and "foste" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "foque" or "foste" show up more?
"foste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,469 in our Portuguese list, against #34,289 for "foque". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "foque" and "foste".

  • Full dictionary entry for "foque" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "foste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,637 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "foque" and "foste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fosco vs foste". 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 #19,637 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