Which to use
“escala” and “escola” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,320
- “escala” frequency rank
- #275
- “escola” frequency rank
- 2595
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | escala | escola |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ato de escalar; escada; escalada | instituição social que tem a missão de educar |
Where the eye mixes escala and escola
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: escala vs escola
A purely visual mix-up. escala (/iʃ.ˈka.lɐ/) and escola (/is.ˈkɔ.la/) 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 - a in “escala” becomes o in “escola”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2595, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
escala is recorded at frequency rank #2,320, classified as anoun, pronounced /iʃ.ˈka.lɐ/. escola is at rank #275, tagged as anoun, pronounced /is.ˈkɔ.la/.
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 2595, this pair ranks #72,741 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of escala vs escola
Shared letters: acels. Private to "escala": -. Private to "escola": o.
"escala" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "escola" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "escala" and "escola" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "escala" vs "escola" - which ranks higher?
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 "escala" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "escola" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #72,741 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "escala" and "escola" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "escoar vs escola". 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 #72,741 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.