friovsfritoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,432
“frio” frequency rank
#14,853
“frito” frequency rank
16285
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature frio frito
Definition falta de calor que se frigiu

Where the eye mixes frio and frito

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
frio
5 ch
frito

Why the eye confuses frio with frito

A purely visual mix-up. frio (/ˈfɾi.u/) and frito (/ˈfɾi.tu/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16285, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

frio is recorded at frequency rank #1,432, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈfɾi.u/. frito is at rank #14,853, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfɾi.tu/.

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 16285, this pair ranks #55,283 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of frio vs frito

Shared letters: fior. Private to "frio": -. Private to "frito": t.

"frio" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "frito" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • frioffrio · firo · froi · frrio · rfio
  • fritoffrito · firto · friot · fritto · frrito · frtio · rfito

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "frio" for "frito" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfɾi.u/ versus /ˈfɾi.tu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "frio" or "frito"?
"frio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,432 in our Portuguese list, against #14,853 for "frito". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "frio" and "frito" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "frio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "frito" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #55,283 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "frio" and "frito" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "friso vs frito". 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 #55,283 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