garfovsgrifoConfusable pair

Quick tell: garfo is a noun, grifo is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“garfo” is a noun and “grifo” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,586
“garfo” frequency rank
#39,179
“grifo” frequency rank
54765
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature garfo grifo
Definition utensílio de dois ou mais dentes que faz parte do talher frisado, encrespado

Letter map: garfo vs grifo

Shared letters muted; letters that set garfo and grifo apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. garfo (CVCCV) and grifo (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
garfo
5 ch
grifo

Grammar separator: garfo vs grifo

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: garfo is anoun and grifoanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54765, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

garfo is recorded at frequency rank #15,586, classified as anoun. grifo is at rank #39,179, tagged as anadj, pronounced /'gɾɪfu/.

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 54765, this pair ranks #11,051 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of garfo vs grifo

Shared letters: fgor. Private to "garfo": a. Private to "grifo": i.

"garfo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "grifo" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • garfo ← agrfo · gafro · garffo · garof · garrfo · ggarfo · grafo
  • grifo ← ggrifo · girfo · grfio · griffo · griof · grrifo · rgifo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "garfo" for "grifo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "garfo" is a noun and "grifo" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "garfo" or "grifo"?
"garfo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,586 in our Portuguese list, against #39,179 for "grifo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "garfo" vs "grifo" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "garfo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grifo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,051 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "garfo" and "grifo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grifo vs grip". 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 #11,051 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