fracovsfuracãoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#3,401
“fraco” frequency rank
#4,481
“furacão” frequency rank
7882
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fraco furacão
Definition sem força sistema de baixa pressão que ocorre geralmente nas regiões tropicais com ventos que circulam na forma de espiral, em alta velocidade, causando calamidade quando atinge regiões habitadas

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fraco and furacão apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
fraco
7 ch
furacão

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fraco is /ˈfɾa.ku/ while furacão is /fu.ɾɐ.ˈkɐ̃w̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7882, 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/. furacão is at rank #4,481, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fu.ɾɐ.ˈkɐ̃w̃/.

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 7882, this pair ranks #66,101 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fraco vs furacão

Shared letters: acfor. Private to "fraco": -. Private to "furacão": .

"fraco" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "furacão" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fracofarco · ffraco · fracco · fraoc · frcao · frraco · rfaco

Frequency comparison

fraco#3,401
furacão#4,481

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fraco" and "furacão" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fraco" is an adjective and "furacão" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fraco" or "furacão"?
"fraco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,401 in our Portuguese list, against #4,481 for "furacão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fraco vs furacão

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “fraco”; for a noun, it's “furacão”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fraco” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list