ecrãvsêtreWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#12,046
“ecrã” frequency rank
#48,731
“être” frequency rank
60777
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ecrã être
Definition superfície onde se projetam, reproduzem ou formam imagens ser vivo

Where the eye mixes ecrã and être

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. ecrã and être follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
ecrã
4 ch
être

Look-alike desk: ecrã vs être

A purely visual mix-up. ecrã (/ɛ.ˈkɾɐ̃/) and être (/ɛtʁ/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60777, 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/. être is at rank #48,731, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɛtʁ/.

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 60777, this pair ranks #7,490 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ecrã vs être

Shared letters: er. Private to "ecrã": cã. Private to "être": tê.

"ecrã" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "être" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ecrã" for "être" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɛ.ˈkɾɐ̃/ versus /ɛtʁ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ecrã" vs "être" - which ranks higher?
"ecrã" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,046 in our Portuguese list, against #48,731 for "être". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ecrã" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "être" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,490 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ecrã" and "être" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erre vs être". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #7,490 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