fostevsfostesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“foste” and “fostes” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,469
“foste” frequency rank
#42,935
“fostes” frequency rank
54404
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foste fostes
Definition segunda pessoa do singular do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo ser segunda pessoa do plural do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo ser

Where the eye mixes foste and fostes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. foste runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against fostes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
foste
6 ch
fostes

Look-alike desk: foste vs fostes

A purely visual mix-up. foste (/ˈfos.ʧi/) and fostes (/ˈfos.ʧis/) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “foste” sits inside “fostes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54404, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

foste is recorded at frequency rank #11,469, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈfos.ʧi/. fostes is at rank #42,935, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈfos.ʧis/.

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 54404, this pair ranks #11,286 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of foste vs fostes

Shared letters: efost. Private to "foste": -. Private to "fostes": -.

"foste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "fostes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foste ← ffoste · foset · fosste · fostte · fotse · fsote · ofste
  • fostes ← ffostes · fosets · fosstes · fostess · fostse · fosttes · fotses · fsotes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "foste" for "fostes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfos.ʧi/ versus /ˈfos.ʧis/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "foste" or "fostes" show up more?
"foste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,469 in our Portuguese list, against #42,935 for "fostes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "foste" and "fostes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "foste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fostes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,286 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "foste" and "fostes" 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 #11,286 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list