espia
/iʃ.ˈpi.ɐ/
The verdict
“espia” is a moderately-common Portuguese word, ranked #41,012 in Portuguese word frequency and used as a noun.
- #41,012
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - pessoa que observa escondida
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | espia |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /iʃ.ˈpi.ɐ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #41,012 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “espia” sits in Portuguese frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Portuguese entry for espia is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /iʃ.ˈpi.ɐ/. Corpus data places it at rank #41,012 in overall Portuguese word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for espia, with forms such as "epsia", "esipa", and "espai". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 11 confusable-pair relationships, "está", "essa", "estima", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct Portuguese form is espia, spelled E-S-P-I-A.
Definition
- 1pessoa que observa escondida
- 2pessoa que espreita
- 3espião
- 4pescador que localiza os cardumes e coloca as redes para os pescar
- 5corda com que se amarram embarcações
- 6corda com que se puxa alguma coisa
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: epsia,esipa,espai,esppia,esspia,sepia
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of espia - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "espia"?
What does "espia" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "espia"?
How do you pronounce "espia"?
What language does "espia" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “espia”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is E-S-P-I-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /iʃ.ˈpi.ɐ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “está” - see the side-by-side comparison. espia vs está
- Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.