encontrovsencostoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#646
“encontro” frequency rank
#25,290
“encosto” frequency rank
25936
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature encontro encosto
Definition ato de encontrar; reunião parte de um objeto ou lugar em que se encosta

Where the eye mixes encontro and encosto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
encontro
7 ch
encosto

Look-alike desk: encontro vs encosto

A purely visual mix-up. encontro (/ẽ.ˈkõ.tɾu/) and encosto (/eŋ.ˈkoʃ.tu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25936, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

encontro is recorded at frequency rank #646, classified as anoun, pronounced /ẽ.ˈkõ.tɾu/. encosto is at rank #25,290, tagged as anoun, pronounced /eŋ.ˈkoʃ.tu/.

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 25936, this pair ranks #43,284 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of encontro vs encosto

Shared letters: cenot. Private to "encontro": r. Private to "encosto": s.

"encontro" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV  ·  "encosto" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • encontroecnontro · enccontro · encnotro · enconntro · enconrto · encontor · encontrro · enconttro
  • encostoecnosto · enccosto · encosot · encossto · encostto · encotso · encsoto · enncosto

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "encontro" for "encosto" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ẽ.ˈkõ.tɾu/ versus /eŋ.ˈkoʃ.tu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "encontro" vs "encosto" - which ranks higher?
"encontro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #646 in our Portuguese list, against #25,290 for "encosto". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "encontro" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "encosto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,284 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "encontro" and "encosto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "encosto vs endosso". 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 #43,284 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