esvseuWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,631
“es” frequency rank
#20
“eu” frequency rank
2651
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature es eu
Definition ele, ela, aquilo, pronome da terceira pessoa do neutro singular do caso nominativo. usado por um ser para indicar a si próprio

Where the eye mixes es and eu

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
es
2 ch
eu

Look-alike desk: es vs eu

A purely visual mix-up. es (/'ɛs/ ouvir ^(fonte ?)) and eu (/ˈew/) 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 a single letter - s in “es” becomes u in “eu”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2651, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

es is recorded at frequency rank #2,631, classified as apron, pronounced /'ɛs/ ouvir ^(fonte ?). eu is at rank #20, tagged as apron, pronounced /ˈew/.

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 2651, this pair ranks #72,666 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of es vs eu

Shared letters: e. Private to "es": s. Private to "eu": u.

"es" · 2 letters · shape VC  ·  "eu" · 2 letters · shape VV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "es" and "eu" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/'ɛs/ ouvir ^(fonte ?) versus /ˈew/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "es" or "eu" show up more?
"eu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20 in our Portuguese list, against #2,631 for "es". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "es" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "eu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #72,666 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "es" and "eu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ear vs es". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #72,666 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