Which to use
“fraco” is an adjective and “frade” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,401
- “fraco” frequency rank
- #30,162
- “frade” frequency rank
- 33563
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fraco | frade |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sem força | membro de uma ordem religiosa, em especial as ordens franciscanas, dominicanas, carmelitas e augustinianas; freire |
Where the eye mixes fraco and frade
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fraco vs frade
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fraco is /ˈfɾa.ku/ while frade is /ˈfɾa.dɨ/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fraco is recorded at frequency rank #3,401, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈfɾa.ku/. frade is at rank #30,162, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɾa.dɨ/.
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 33563, this pair ranks #33,917 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fraco vs frade
Shared letters: afr. Private to "fraco": co. Private to "frade": de.
"fraco" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "frade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fraco" for "frade" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fraco" or "frade"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fraco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "frade" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #33,917 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fraco" and "frade" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "frade vs Frau". 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 #33,917 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.