ecrãvseramWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ecrã is a noun, eram is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ecrã” is a noun and “eram” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,046
“ecrã” frequency rank
#425
“eram” frequency rank
12471
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ecrã eram
Definition superfície onde se projetam, reproduzem ou formam imagens terceira pessoa do plural do pretérito imperfeito do indicativo do verbo ser

Where the eye mixes ecrã and eram

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ecrã (VCCV) and eram (VCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
ecrã
4 ch
eram

Look-alike desk: ecrã vs eram

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ecrã is /ɛ.ˈkɾɐ̃/ while eram is /ˈɛ.ɾã/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12471, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ecrã is recorded at frequency rank #12,046, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɛ.ˈkɾɐ̃/. eram is at rank #425, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɛ.ɾã/.

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 12471, this pair ranks #60,094 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ecrã vs eram

Shared letters: er. Private to "ecrã": cã. Private to "eram": am.

"ecrã" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "eram" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eram ← earm · eramm · erma · erram · ream

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ecrã" for "eram" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ecrã" is a noun and "eram" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ecrã" or "eram" show up more?
"eram" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #425 in our Portuguese list, against #12,046 for "ecrã". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ecrã" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "eram" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,094 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ecrã" and "eram" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ecrã vs être". 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 #60,094 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