elevsesteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#38
“ele” frequency rank
#77
“este” frequency rank
115
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ele este
Definition pronome pessoal da terceira pessoa do singular relativo a alguém ou alguma coisa que esteja perto de quem fala:

Letter map: ele vs este

Shared letters muted; letters that set ele and este apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
ele
4 ch
este

Corpus notes: ele and este

ele and este are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 115, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ele is recorded at frequency rank #38, classified as apron, pronounced /ˈe.li/, /ˈe.lɪ/. este is at rank #77, tagged as apron.

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 115, this pair ranks #75,549 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ele vs este

Shared letters: e. Private to "ele": l. Private to "este": st.

"ele" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "este" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • esteeset · esste · estte · etse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ele" and "este" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ele" or "este" show up more?
"ele" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38 in our Portuguese list, against #77 for "este". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ele" and "este".

  • Full dictionary entry for "ele" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "este" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,549 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ele" and "este" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "este 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 #75,549 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