eramvserrarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#425
“eram” frequency rank
#10,525
“errar” frequency rank
10950
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eram errar
Definition terceira pessoa do plural do pretérito imperfeito do indicativo do verbo ser cometer erro em

Where the eye mixes eram and errar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
eram
5 ch
errar

Visual trap between eram and errar

A purely visual mix-up. eram (/ˈɛ.ɾã/) and errar (/i.ˈRaɾ/) 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 10950, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eram is recorded at frequency rank #425, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɛ.ɾã/. errar is at rank #10,525, tagged as averb, pronounced /i.ˈRaɾ/.

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 10950, this pair ranks #62,009 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of eram vs errar

Shared letters: aer. Private to "eram": m. Private to "errar": -.

"eram" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "errar" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eramearm · eramm · erma · erram · ream
  • errarerar · erarr · errarr · errra · rerar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "eram" and "errar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɛ.ɾã/ versus /i.ˈRaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "eram" vs "errar" - which ranks higher?
"eram" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #425 in our Portuguese list, against #10,525 for "errar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "eram" and "errar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "eram" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "errar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #62,009 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eram" and "errar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "errar vs erre". 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 #62,009 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