Which to use
“fossa” and “fosso” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,291
- “fossa” frequency rank
- #15,815
- “fosso” frequency rank
- 33106
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fossa | fosso |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | grande abertura na terra | cova |
Where the eye mixes fossa and fosso
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fossa vs fosso
A purely visual mix-up. fossa (/ˈfɔ.sɐ/) and fosso (/ˈfo.su/) 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 “fossa” becomes o in “fosso”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33106, 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/. fosso is at rank #15,815, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfo.su/.
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 33106, this pair ranks #34,516 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fossa vs fosso
Shared letters: fos. Private to "fossa": a. Private to "fosso": -.
"fossa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "fosso" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fossa" for "fosso" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fossa" vs "fosso" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "fossa" and "fosso" 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 "fosso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #34,516 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fossa" and "fosso" 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 #34,516 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.