escadavsescavarWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: escada is a noun, escavar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“escada” is a noun and “escavar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,626
“escada” frequency rank
#24,966
“escavar” frequency rank
30592
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature escada escavar
Definition equipamento formado por degraus que é usado para subir e descer de lugares altos tornar vazio pela remoção do que há dentro; fazer um buraco ou cavidade em; realizar uma escavação

Where the eye mixes escada and escavar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
escada
7 ch
escavar

Visual trap between escada and escavar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: escada is /isˈka.dɐ/, /esˈka.dɐ/ while escavar is /iʃ.kɐ.ˈvaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30592, 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/. escavar is at rank #24,966, tagged as averb, pronounced /iʃ.kɐ.ˈvaɾ/.

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 30592, this pair ranks #37,708 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of escada vs escavar

Shared letters: aces. Private to "escada": d. Private to "escavar": rv.

"escada" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "escavar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • escadaecsada · esacda · escaad · escadda · esccada · escdaa · esscada · secada
  • escavarecsavar · esacvar · escaavr · escavarr · escavra · escavvar · esccavar · escvaar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "escada" for "escavar" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "escada" is a noun and "escavar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "escada" vs "escavar" - which ranks higher?
"escada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,626 in our Portuguese list, against #24,966 for "escavar". 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 "escavar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,708 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "escada" and "escavar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "escavar vs escoar". 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 #37,708 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