encalçovsencargoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#33,392
“encalço” frequency rank
#27,847
“encargo” frequency rank
61239
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature encalço encargo
Definition pegada obrigação

Where the eye mixes encalço and encargo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. encalço and encargo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
encalço
7 ch
encargo

Visual trap between encalço and encargo

A purely visual mix-up. encalço (/ẽ.ˈkaɫ.su/) and encargo (/ẽ.ˈkaɾ.ɡu/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61239, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

encalço is recorded at frequency rank #33,392, classified as anoun, pronounced /ẽ.ˈkaɫ.su/. encargo is at rank #27,847, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ẽ.ˈkaɾ.ɡu/.

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 61239, this pair ranks #7,232 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of encalço vs encargo

Shared letters: aceno. Private to "encalço": lç. Private to "encargo": gr.

"encalço" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "encargo" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • encargo ← ecnargo · enacrgo · encagro · encarggo · encarog · encarrgo · enccargo · encrago

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "encalço" for "encargo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ẽ.ˈkaɫ.su/ versus /ẽ.ˈkaɾ.ɡu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "encalço" vs "encargo" - which ranks higher?
"encargo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,847 in our Portuguese list, against #33,392 for "encalço". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "encalço" and "encargo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "encalço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "encargo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,232 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "encalço" and "encargo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "embargo vs encargo". 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 #7,232 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