Which to use
“fosse” is a verb and “fosso” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #348
- “fosse” frequency rank
- #15,815
- “fosso” frequency rank
- 16163
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fosse | fosso |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | primeira pessoa do singular do pretérito imperfeito do conjuntivo do verbo ser | cova |
Where the eye mixes fosse and fosso
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between fosse and fosso
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fosse is /ˈfo.si/ while fosso is /ˈfo.su/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “fosse” becomes o in “fosso”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16163, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fosse is recorded at frequency rank #348, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈfo.si/. 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 16163, this pair ranks #55,444 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fosse vs fosso
Shared letters: fos. Private to "fosse": e. Private to "fosso": -.
"fosse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "fosso" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fosse" for "fosso" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "fosse" or "fosso" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "fosse" and "fosso" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fosse" 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 #55,444 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fosse" and "fosso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fosco vs fosso". 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 #55,444 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.