escaladavsescalãoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#8,048
“escalada” frequency rank
#10,000
“escalão” frequency rank
18048
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature escalada escalão
Definition ação de escalar; escalamento nível hierárquico

Where the eye mixes escalada and escalão

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. escalada runs 8 letters (VCCVCVCV) against escalão's 7 (VCCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
escalada
7 ch
escalão

Visual trap between escalada and escalão

A purely visual mix-up. escalada (/iʃ.kɐ.ˈla.dɐ/) and escalão (/iʃ.kɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18048, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

escalada is recorded at frequency rank #8,048, classified as anoun, pronounced /iʃ.kɐ.ˈla.dɐ/. escalão is at rank #10,000, tagged as anoun, pronounced /iʃ.kɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/.

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 18048, this pair ranks #53,037 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of escalada vs escalão

Shared letters: acels. Private to "escalada": d. Private to "escalão": oã.

"escalada" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV  ·  "escalão" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • escalada ← ecsalada · esaclada · escaalda · escalaad · escaladda · escaldaa · escallada · esccalada

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "escalada" and "escalão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/iʃ.kɐ.ˈla.dɐ/ versus /iʃ.kɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "escalada" or "escalão"?
"escalada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,048 in our Portuguese list, against #10,000 for "escalão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "escalada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "escalão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #53,037 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "escalada" and "escalão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "escalão vs estalo". 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 #53,037 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