escadavsescalaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,626
“escada” frequency rank
#2,320
“escala” frequency rank
7946
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature escada escala
Definition equipamento formado por degraus que é usado para subir e descer de lugares altos ato de escalar; escada; escalada

Where the eye mixes escada and escala

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. escada and escala follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
escada
6 ch
escala

Visual trap between escada and escala

A purely visual mix-up. escada (/isˈka.dɐ/, /esˈka.dɐ/) and escala (/iʃ.ˈka.lɐ/) 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 - d in “escada” becomes l in “escala”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7946, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

escada is recorded at frequency rank #5,626, classified as anoun, pronounced /isˈka.dɐ/, /esˈka.dɐ/. escala is at rank #2,320, tagged as anoun, pronounced /iʃ.ˈka.lɐ/.

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 7946, this pair ranks #66,013 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of escada vs escala

Shared letters: aces. Private to "escada": d. Private to "escala": l.

"escada" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "escala" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • escada ← ecsada · esacda · escaad · escadda · esccada · escdaa · esscada · secada
  • escala ← ecsala · esacla · escaal · escalla · esccala · esclaa · esscala · secala

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "escada" and "escala" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/isˈka.dɐ/, /esˈka.dɐ/ versus /iʃ.ˈka.lɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "escada" vs "escala" - which ranks higher?
"escala" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,320 in our Portuguese list, against #5,626 for "escada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "escada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "escala" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,013 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "escada" and "escala" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enxada vs escada". 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 #66,013 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