FrauvsfraudeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,994
“Frau” frequency rank
#5,008
“fraude” frequency rank
38002
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Frau fraude
Definition mulher tipo penal que consiste em obter dinheiro, bens ou vantagem por meio de artifícios e enganação

Where the eye mixes Frau and fraude

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

4 ch
Frau
6 ch
fraude

Visual trap between Frau and fraude

A purely visual mix-up. Frau (/fraʊ̯/) and fraude (/ˈfɾaw.d͡ʒi/ [ˈfɾaʊ̯.d͡ʒi]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “Frau” sits inside “fraude”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38002, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Frau is recorded at frequency rank #32,994, classified as anoun, pronounced /fraʊ̯/. fraude is at rank #5,008, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɾaw.d͡ʒi/ [ˈfɾaʊ̯.d͡ʒi].

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 38002, this pair ranks #28,535 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Frau vs fraude

Shared letters: afru. Private to "Frau": -. Private to "fraude": de.

"Frau" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "fraude" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Frau ← faru · ffrau · frrau · frua · rfau
  • fraude ← farude · ffraude · fradue · fraudde · fraued · frraude · fruade · rfaude

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Frau" and "fraude" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/fraʊ̯/ versus /ˈfɾaw.d͡ʒi/ [ˈfɾaʊ̯.d͡ʒi]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "Frau" or "fraude" show up more?
"fraude" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,008 in our Portuguese list, against #32,994 for "Frau". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Frau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fraude" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,535 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Frau" and "fraude" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foras 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 #28,535 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