Which to use
“fortuna” and “fortune” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,538
- “fortuna” frequency rank
- #33,851
- “fortune” frequency rank
- 39389
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fortuna | fortune |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o que sucede por acaso | sorte; destino (geralmente favorável) |
Where the eye mixes fortuna and fortune
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. fortuna and fortune follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between fortuna and fortune
A purely visual mix-up. fortuna (/fuɾ.ˈtu.nɐ/) and fortune (/ˈfɔːtʃuːn/) 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 a single letter - a in “fortuna” becomes e in “fortune”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39389, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fortuna is recorded at frequency rank #5,538, classified as anoun, pronounced /fuɾ.ˈtu.nɐ/. fortune is at rank #33,851, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɔːtʃuːn/.
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 39389, this pair ranks #26,883 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fortuna vs fortune
Shared letters: fnortu. Private to "fortuna": a. Private to "fortune": e.
"fortuna" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "fortune" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fortuna" for "fortune" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fortuna" vs "fortune" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "fortuna" and "fortune" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fortuna" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fortune" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #26,883 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fortuna" and "fortune" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "forte vs fortune". 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 #26,883 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.