Ente vs está, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#17,497
“Ente” frequency rank: #45
“está” frequency rank: 17542
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Ente	está
Definition	pato	terceira pessoa do verbo estar no presente do indicativo; indica condição temporária

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Ente and está apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

Ente

4 ch

está

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Ente is anoun and estáaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17542, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ente is recorded at frequency rank #17,497, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɛntə/ ouvir^(fonte ?). 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 17542, this pair ranks #53,678 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Ente vs está

Shared letters: et. Private to "Ente": n. Private to "está": sá.

"Ente" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "está" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

Ente ← enet · ennte · entte · etne · nete

Frequency comparison

Ente#17,497

está#45

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"está" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #45 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 Ente vs está

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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