escaparvsesmagarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,682
“escapar” frequency rank
#21,167
“esmagar” frequency rank
24849
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature escapar esmagar
Definition fugir de confinamento, ganhar ou reaver a liberdade apertar ou pressionar com força de modo a destruir ou deformar

Where the eye mixes escapar and esmagar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. escapar and esmagar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
escapar
7 ch
esmagar

Visual trap between escapar and esmagar

A purely visual mix-up. escapar (/iʃ.kɐ.ˈpaɾ/) and esmagar (/iʒ.mɐ.ˈɡaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24849, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

escapar is recorded at frequency rank #3,682, classified as averb, pronounced /iʃ.kɐ.ˈpaɾ/. esmagar is at rank #21,167, tagged as averb, pronounced /iʒ.mɐ.ˈɡaɾ/.

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 24849, this pair ranks #44,630 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of escapar vs esmagar

Shared letters: aers. Private to "escapar": cp. Private to "esmagar": gm.

"escapar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "esmagar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • escaparecsapar · esacpar · escaapr · escaparr · escappar · escapra · esccapar · escpaar
  • esmagaremsagar · esamgar · esmaagr · esmagarr · esmaggar · esmagra · esmgaar · esmmagar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "escapar" and "esmagar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/iʃ.kɐ.ˈpaɾ/ versus /iʒ.mɐ.ˈɡaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "escapar" or "esmagar"?
"escapar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,682 in our Portuguese list, against #21,167 for "esmagar". 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 "escapar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "esmagar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,630 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "escapar" and "esmagar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "esmagar vs estagiar". 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 #44,630 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