Which to use
“escola” and “escova” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #275
- “escola” frequency rank
- #11,061
- “escova” frequency rank
- 11336
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | escola | escova |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | instituição social que tem a missão de educar | utensílio guarnecido de pelos, sedas, fibras de plástico, fios de arame, etc. que serve para limpar; pode ser usado em roupas, tecidos, móveis, etc |
Where the eye mixes escola and escova
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. escola and escova follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between escola and escova
A purely visual mix-up. escola (/is.ˈkɔ.la/) and escova (/iʃ.ˈkɔ.vɐ/) 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 - l in “escola” becomes v in “escova”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11336, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
escola is recorded at frequency rank #275, classified as anoun, pronounced /is.ˈkɔ.la/. escova is at rank #11,061, tagged as anoun, pronounced /iʃ.ˈkɔ.vɐ/.
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 11336, this pair ranks #61,534 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of escola vs escova
Shared letters: aceos. Private to "escola": l. Private to "escova": v.
"escola" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "escova" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "escola" for "escova" ever safe?
Which is more common, "escola" or "escova"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "escola" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "escova" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #61,534 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "escola" and "escova" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "escoar vs escova". 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 #61,534 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.