errarvsestarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,525
“errar” frequency rank
#186
“estar” frequency rank
10711
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature errar estar
Definition cometer erro em associa uma característica (momentânea, não permanente) a um ser

Letter map: errar vs estar

Shared letters muted; letters that set errar and estar apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
errar
5 ch
estar

Corpus notes: errar and estar

errar and estar are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10711, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

errar is recorded at frequency rank #10,525, classified as averb, pronounced /i.ˈRaɾ/. estar is at rank #186, 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 10711, this pair ranks #62,314 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of errar vs estar

Shared letters: aer. Private to "errar": -. Private to "estar": st.

"errar" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "estar" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • errarerar · erarr · errarr · errra · rerar
  • estaresatr · esstar · estarr · estra · esttar · etsar · setar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "errar" and "estar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "errar" or "estar" show up more?
"estar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #186 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.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "errar" and "estar".

  • Full dictionary entry for "errar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "estar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #62,314 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "errar" and "estar" 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 #62,314 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