fossa vs fosses, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#17,291
“fossa” frequency rank: #29,740
“fosses” frequency rank: 47031
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	fossa	fosses
Definition	grande abertura na terra	segunda pessoa do singular do pretérito imperfeito do subjuntivo do verbo ser

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fossa and fosses apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

fossa

6 ch

fosses

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fossa is /ˈfɔ.sɐ/ while fosses is /ˈfo.sis/. 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 47031, 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/. fosses is at rank #29,740, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈfo.sis/.

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 47031, this pair ranks #18,261 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fossa vs fosses

Shared letters: fos. Private to "fossa": a. Private to "fosses": e.

"fossa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "fosses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

fossa ← ffossa · fosa · fosas · fsosa · ofssa
fosses ← ffosses · fosess · fossess · fossse · fsoses · ofsses

Frequency comparison

fossa#17,291

fosses#29,740

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fossa" and "fosses" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fossa" is a noun and "fosses" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "fossa" or "fosses"?

"fossa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,291 in our Portuguese list, against #29,740 for "fosses". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fossa vs fosses

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “fossa”; for a verb, it's “fosses”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fossa” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable