escolhovsescopoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#12,053
“escolho” frequency rank
#14,839
“escopo” frequency rank
26892
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature escolho escopo
Definition rochedo submerso que pode danificar embarcações o que se pretende atingir

Where the eye mixes escolho and escopo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. escolho runs 7 letters (VCCVCCV) against escopo's 6 (VCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
escolho
6 ch
escopo

Why the eye confuses escolho with escopo

A purely visual mix-up. escolho (/iʃ.ˈko.ʎu/) and escopo (/es.ˈko.pu/) 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 26892, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

escolho is recorded at frequency rank #12,053, classified as anoun, pronounced /iʃ.ˈko.ʎu/. escopo is at rank #14,839, tagged as anoun, pronounced /es.ˈko.pu/.

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 26892, this pair ranks #42,174 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of escolho vs escopo

Shared letters: ceos. Private to "escolho": hl. Private to "escopo": p.

"escolho" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "escopo" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • escolho ← ecsolho · esccolho · escloho · escohlo · escolhho · escollho · escoloh · esoclho
  • escopo ← ecsopo · esccopo · escoop · escoppo · escpoo · esocpo · esscopo · secopo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "escolho" and "escopo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/iʃ.ˈko.ʎu/ versus /es.ˈko.pu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "escolho" or "escopo"?
"escolho" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,053 in our Portuguese list, against #14,839 for "escopo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "escolho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "escopo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,174 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "escolho" and "escopo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "escoar vs escopo". 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 #42,174 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