freivsfreiraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#9,500
“frei” frequency rank
#14,147
“freira” frequency rank
23647
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature frei freira
Definition variante ortográfica de freire monja, pessoa religiosa que mora com outras em comunidade

Letter map: frei vs freira

Shared letters muted; letters that set frei and freira apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

4 ch
frei
6 ch
freira

Pair insight - frei / freira

frei and freira are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “frei” sits inside “freira”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23647, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

frei is recorded at frequency rank #9,500, classified as anoun. freira is at rank #14,147, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɾɐj.ɾɐ/.

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 23647, this pair ranks #46,141 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of frei vs freira

Shared letters: efir. Private to "frei": -. Private to "freira": a.

"frei" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "freira" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • freiferi · ffrei · frie · frrei · rfei
  • freiraferira · ffreira · freiar · freirra · freria · friera · frreira · rfeira

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "frei" for "freira" ever safe?
No. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “frei” sits inside “freira”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "frei" vs "freira" - which ranks higher?
"frei" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,500 in our Portuguese list, against #14,147 for "freira". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "frei" and "freira".

  • Full dictionary entry for "frei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "freira" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #46,141 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "frei" and "freira" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ferra vs freira". 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 #46,141 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