Which to use
“fossa” is a noun and “fossem” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,291
- “fossa” frequency rank
- #2,145
- “fossem” frequency rank
- 19436
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fossa | fossem |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | grande abertura na terra | terceira pessoa do plural do pretérito imperfeito do subjuntivo do verbo ser |
Where the eye mixes fossa and fossem
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fossa runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against fossem's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fossa with fossem
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fossa is /ˈfɔ.sɐ/ while fossem is /ˈfo.sẽ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19436, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fossa is recorded at frequency rank #17,291, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɔ.sɐ/. fossem is at rank #2,145, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈfo.sẽ/.
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 19436, this pair ranks #51,272 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fossa vs fossem
Shared letters: fos. Private to "fossa": a. Private to "fossem": em.
"fossa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "fossem" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fossa" for "fossem" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fossa" or "fossem"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "fossa" and "fossem" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fossa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fossem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #51,272 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fossa" and "fossem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fosco vs fossa". 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 #51,272 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.