fraçãovsfracoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: fração is a noun, fraco is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fração” is a noun and “fraco” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,520
“fração” frequency rank
#3,401
“fraco” frequency rank
16921
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fração fraco
Definition ato de quebrar ou dividir uma coisa sem força

Where the eye mixes fração and fraco

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fração runs 6 letters (CCVCVV) against fraco's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
fração
5 ch
fraco

Why the eye confuses fração with fraco

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fração is /fɾa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ while fraco is /ˈfɾa.ku/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16921, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fração is recorded at frequency rank #13,520, classified as anoun, pronounced /fɾa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. fraco is at rank #3,401, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfɾa.ku/.

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 16921, this pair ranks #54,483 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fração vs fraco

Shared letters: afor. Private to "fração": ãç. Private to "fraco": c.

"fração" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV  ·  "fraco" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fraco ← farco · ffraco · fracco · fraoc · frcao · frraco · rfaco

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fração" and "fraco" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fração" is a noun and "fraco" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "fração" or "fraco" show up more?
"fraco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,401 in our Portuguese list, against #13,520 for "fração". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fração" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fraco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,483 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fração" and "fraco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fosco vs fraco". 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 #54,483 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