épicovsespiãoTell them apart

Quick tell: épico is a adjective, espião is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“épico” is an adjective and “espião” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,422
“épico” frequency rank
#13,286
“espião” frequency rank
26708
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature épico espião
Definition pertencente ou relativo à epopeia ou à poesia heroica pessoa empregada por um governo ou companhia para obter informações secretas sobre outro governo ou companhia

Letter map: épico vs espião

Shared letters muted; letters that set épico and espião apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. épico runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against espião's 6 (VCCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
épico
6 ch
espião

Grammar separator: épico vs espião

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: épico is anadjective and espiãoanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26708, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

épico is recorded at frequency rank #13,422, classified as anadj. espião is at rank #13,286, tagged as anoun.

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 26708, this pair ranks #42,389 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of épico vs espião

Shared letters: iop. Private to "épico": cé. Private to "espião": esã.

"épico" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "espião" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "épico" and "espião" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "épico" is an adjective and "espião" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "épico" or "espião" show up more?
"espião" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,286 in our Portuguese list, against #13,422 for "épico". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "épico" and "espião". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "épico" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "espião" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,389 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "épico" and "espião" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "espião vs espinal". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #42,389 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