escadavsescaladaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,626
“escada” frequency rank
#8,048
“escalada” frequency rank
13674
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes escada and escalada

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
escada
8 ch
escalada

Look-alike desk: escada vs escalada

A purely visual mix-up. escada (/isˈka.dɐ/, /esˈka.dɐ/) and escalada (/iʃ.kɐ.ˈla.dɐ/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13674, 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/. escalada is at rank #8,048, tagged as anoun, pronounced /iʃ.kɐ.ˈla.dɐ/.

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 13674, this pair ranks #58,603 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of escada vs escalada

Shared letters: acdes. Private to "escada": -. Private to "escalada": l.

"escada" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "escalada" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • escadaecsada · esacda · escaad · escadda · esccada · escdaa · esscada · secada
  • escaladaecsalada · esaclada · escaalda · escalaad · escaladda · escaldaa · escallada · esccalada

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "escada" and "escalada" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/isˈka.dɐ/, /esˈka.dɐ/ versus /iʃ.kɐ.ˈla.dɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "escada" or "escalada" show up more?
"escada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,626 in our Portuguese list, against #8,048 for "escalada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "escada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "escalada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,603 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "escada" and "escalada" 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 #58,603 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