Which to use
“escavar” and “escovar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,966
- “escavar” frequency rank
- #19,705
- “escovar” frequency rank
- 44671
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | escavar | escovar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | tornar vazio pela remoção do que há dentro; fazer um buraco ou cavidade em; realizar uma escavação | ato ou efeito de utilizar uma escova |
Where the eye mixes escavar and escovar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. escavar and escovar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between escavar and escovar
A purely visual mix-up. escavar (/iʃ.kɐ.ˈvaɾ/) and escovar (/is.koˈva(ʁ)/, /es.koˈva(ʁ)/) 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 “escavar” becomes o in “escovar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44671, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
escavar is recorded at frequency rank #24,966, classified as averb, pronounced /iʃ.kɐ.ˈvaɾ/. escovar is at rank #19,705, tagged as averb, pronounced /is.koˈva(ʁ)/, /es.koˈva(ʁ)/.
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 44671, this pair ranks #20,768 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of escavar vs escovar
Shared letters: acersv. Private to "escavar": -. Private to "escovar": o.
"escavar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC · "escovar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "escavar" and "escovar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "escavar" vs "escovar" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "escavar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "escovar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #20,768 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "escavar" and "escovar" 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 #20,768 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.