elavsestáTell them apart

Quick tell: ela is a pronoun, está is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ela” is a pronoun and “está” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48
“ela” frequency rank
#45
“está” frequency rank
93
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ela está
Definition pronome pessoal da terceira pessoa do singular terceira pessoa do verbo estar no presente do indicativo; indica condição temporária

Letter map: ela vs está

Shared letters muted; letters that set ela and está apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
ela
4 ch
está

Grammar separator: ela vs está

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ela is apronoun and estáaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 93, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ela is recorded at frequency rank #48, classified as apron, pronounced /ˈɛ.lɐ/. está is at rank #45, tagged as averb.

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 93, this pair ranks #75,559 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ela vs está

Shared letters: e. Private to "ela": al. Private to "está": stá.

"ela" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "está" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ela" and "está" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ela" is a pronoun and "está" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ela" vs "está" - which ranks higher?
"está" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #45 in our Portuguese list, against #48 for "ela". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ela" and "está".

  • Full dictionary entry for "ela" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "está" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,559 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ela" and "está" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ela vs elio". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #75,559 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