Which to use
“fosses” is a verb and “fóssil” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,740
- “fosses” frequency rank
- #18,878
- “fóssil” frequency rank
- 48618
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fosses | fóssil |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | segunda pessoa do singular do pretérito imperfeito do subjuntivo do verbo ser | que se extrai da terra |
Where the eye mixes fosses and fóssil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fosses and fóssil follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: fosses vs fóssil
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fosses is /ˈfo.sis/ while fóssil is /ˈfɔ.siɫ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48618, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fosses is recorded at frequency rank #29,740, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈfo.sis/. fóssil is at rank #18,878, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfɔ.siɫ/.
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 48618, this pair ranks #16,553 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fosses vs fóssil
Shared letters: fs. Private to "fosses": eo. Private to "fóssil": iló.
"fosses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "fóssil" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fosses ← ffosses · fosess · fossess · fossse · fsoses · ofsses
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fosses" for "fóssil" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fosses" vs "fóssil" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fosses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fóssil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #16,553 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fosses" and "fóssil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fosses vs fostes". 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 #16,553 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.