escaladavsescalarWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: escalada is a noun, escalar is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“escalada” is a noun and “escalar” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,048
“escalada” frequency rank
#10,703
“escalar” frequency rank
18751
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature escalada escalar
Definition ação de escalar; escalamento diz-se de grandeza física que não tem dimensão, como por exemplo a temperatura

Where the eye mixes escalada and escalar

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

8 ch
escalada
7 ch
escalar

Why the eye confuses escalada with escalar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: escalada is /iʃ.kɐ.ˈla.dɐ/ while escalar is /iʃ.kɐ.ˈlaɾ/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18751, 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/. escalar is at rank #10,703, tagged as anadj, pronounced /iʃ.kɐ.ˈlaɾ/.

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 18751, this pair ranks #52,151 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of escalada vs escalar

Shared letters: acels. Private to "escalada": d. Private to "escalar": r.

"escalada" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV  ·  "escalar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • escaladaecsalada · esaclada · escaalda · escalaad · escaladda · escaldaa · escallada · esccalada
  • escalarecsalar · esaclar · escaalr · escalarr · escallar · escalra · esccalar · esclaar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "escalada" and "escalar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "escalada" is a noun and "escalar" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "escalada" or "escalar"?
"escalada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,048 in our Portuguese list, against #10,703 for "escalar". 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 "escalada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "escalar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #52,151 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "escalada" and "escalar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "escalar 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 #52,151 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