fumovsfurorTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,658
“fumo” frequency rank
#31,785
“furor” frequency rank
38443
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fumo furor
Definition mistura complexa de gases, vapores e partículas em suspensão que se desprendem dos corpos aquecidos ou em combustão agitação violenta

Where the eye mixes fumo and furor

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fumo runs 4 letters (CVCV) against furor's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
fumo
5 ch
furor

Visual trap between fumo and furor

A purely visual mix-up. fumo (/ˈfu.mu/) and furor (/fu.ˈɾoɾ/) 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 38443, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fumo is recorded at frequency rank #6,658, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfu.mu/. furor is at rank #31,785, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fu.ˈɾoɾ/.

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 38443, this pair ranks #28,013 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fumo vs furor

Shared letters: fou. Private to "fumo": m. Private to "furor": r.

"fumo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "furor" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fumo ← ffumo · fmuo · fummo · fuom · ufmo
  • furor ← ffuror · fruor · fuorr · furorr · furror · ufror

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fumo" for "furor" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfu.mu/ versus /fu.ˈɾoɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "fumo" or "furor" show up more?
"fumo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,658 in our Portuguese list, against #31,785 for "furor". 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 "fumo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "furor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,013 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fumo" and "furor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fedor vs furor". 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 #28,013 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