ei vs ets, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#2,629
“ei” frequency rank: #34,703
“ets” frequency rank: 37332
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ei	ets
Definition	ovo	segunda pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo ésser

Where the eye mixes ei and ets

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch

3 ch

ets

Visual trap between ei and ets

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ei is /ˈɛɪ/ while ets is /ˈeʦ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37332, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ei is recorded at frequency rank #2,629, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɛɪ/. ets is at rank #34,703, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈeʦ/.

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 37332, this pair ranks #29,306 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ei vs ets

Shared letters: e. Private to "ei": i. Private to "ets": st.

"ei" · 2 letters · shape VV · "ets" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ei" and "ets" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ei" is a noun and "ets" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Frequency check: "ei" vs "ets" - which ranks higher?

"ei" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,629 in our Portuguese list, against #34,703 for "ets". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

Full dictionary entry for "ei" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ets" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #29,306 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ei" and "ets" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "être vs ets". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #29,306 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.