fumevsfusoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#32,617
“fume” frequency rank
#20,614
“fuso” frequency rank
53231
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fume fuso
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. seção de superfície esférica compreendida entre dois semi-círculos de uma esfera

Where the eye mixes fume and fuso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fume and fuso follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
fume
4 ch
fuso

Why the eye confuses fume with fuso

A purely visual mix-up. fume (/fjuːm/) and fuso (/ˈfu.zu/) 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 53231, 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/. fuso is at rank #20,614, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfu.zu/.

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 53231, this pair ranks #12,188 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fume vs fuso

Shared letters: fu. Private to "fume": em. Private to "fuso": os.

"fume" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fuso" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fume ← ffume · fmue · fuem · fumme · ufme
  • fuso ← ffuso · fsuo · fuos · fusso · ufso

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fume" and "fuso" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/fjuːm/ versus /ˈfu.zu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fume" or "fuso"?
"fuso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,614 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fume" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fuso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,188 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fume" and "fuso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fosco vs fuso". 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 #12,188 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