então vs Ente, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“então” is an adverb and “Ente” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#120
“então” frequency rank: #17,497
“Ente” frequency rank: 17617
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	então	Ente
Definition	naquele momento	pato

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set então and Ente apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

então

4 ch

Ente

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: então is /ẽ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/ while Ente is /ˈɛntə/ ouvir^(fonte ?). 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17617, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

então is recorded at frequency rank #120, classified as anadv, pronounced /ẽ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/. Ente is at rank #17,497, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɛntə/ ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 17617, this pair ranks #53,590 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of então vs Ente

Shared letters: ent. Private to "então": oã. Private to "Ente": -.

"então" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV · "Ente" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

Ente ← enet · ennte · entte · etne · nete

Frequency comparison

então#120

Ente#17,497

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "então" and "Ente" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "então" is an adverb and "Ente" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "então" or "Ente"?

"então" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #120 in our Portuguese list, against #17,497 for "Ente". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering então vs Ente

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “então”; for a noun, it's “Ente”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “então” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable