Which to use
“fosso” is a noun and “foste” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,815
- “fosso” frequency rank
- #11,469
- “foste” frequency rank
- 27284
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fosso | foste |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cova | segunda pessoa do singular do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo ser |
Where the eye mixes fosso and foste
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fosso and foste follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: fosso vs foste
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fosso is /ˈfo.su/ while foste is /ˈfos.ʧi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27284, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fosso is recorded at frequency rank #15,815, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfo.su/. foste is at rank #11,469, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈfos.ʧi/.
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 27284, this pair ranks #41,717 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fosso vs foste
Shared letters: fos. Private to "fosso": -. Private to "foste": et.
"fosso" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "foste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fosso" and "foste" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "fosso" or "foste"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fosso" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #41,717 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fosso" and "foste" 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 #41,717 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.