fumevsfundWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,617
“fume” frequency rank
#21,756
“fund” frequency rank
54373
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fume fund
Definition gás ou vapor com cheiro forte e perigoso de inalar. São partículas sólidas formadas por condensação do estado gasoso, por exemplo, óxidos de metais volatilizados. fundo, capital

Where the eye mixes fume and fund

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
fume
4 ch
fund

Look-alike desk: fume vs fund

A purely visual mix-up. fume (/fjuːm/) and fund (/ˈfʌnd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54373, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fume is recorded at frequency rank #32,617, classified as anoun, pronounced /fjuːm/. fund is at rank #21,756, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfʌnd/.

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 54373, this pair ranks #11,315 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fume vs fund

Shared letters: fu. Private to "fume": em. Private to "fund": dn.

"fume" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fund" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fumeffume · fmue · fuem · fumme · ufme
  • fundffund · fnud · fudn · fundd · funnd · ufnd

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fume" for "fund" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/fjuːm/ versus /ˈfʌnd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "fume" or "fund" show up more?
"fund" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,756 in our Portuguese list, against #32,617 for "fume". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fume" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fund" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,315 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fume" and "fund" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fon vs fund". 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 #11,315 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