Which to use
“Ente” and “être” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,497
- “Ente” frequency rank
- #48,731
- “être” frequency rank
- 66228
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Ente | être |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pato | ser vivo |
Where the eye mixes Ente and être
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Ente and être follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses Ente with être
A purely visual mix-up. Ente (/ˈɛntə/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and être (/ɛtʁ/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66228, 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 ?). être is at rank #48,731, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɛtʁ/.
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 66228, this pair ranks #5,070 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Ente vs être
Shared letters: et. Private to "Ente": n. Private to "être": rê.
"Ente" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "être" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- Ente ← enet · ennte · entte · etne · nete
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Ente" for "être" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Ente" or "être"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "Ente" and "être" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Ente" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "être" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #5,070 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Ente" and "être" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "erre 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 #5,070 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.