escolhovsespólioWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,053
“escolho” frequency rank
#27,472
“espólio” frequency rank
39525
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature escolho espólio
Definition rochedo submerso que pode danificar embarcações bens deixados por alguém que faleceu.

Where the eye mixes escolho and espólio

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. escolho (VCCVCCV) and espólio (VCCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
escolho
7 ch
espólio

Look-alike desk: escolho vs espólio

A purely visual mix-up. escolho (/iʃ.ˈko.ʎu/) and espólio (/iʃ.ˈpɔ.lju/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39525, 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/. espólio is at rank #27,472, tagged as anoun, pronounced /iʃ.ˈpɔ.lju/.

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 39525, this pair ranks #26,702 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of escolho vs espólio

Shared letters: elos. Private to "escolho": ch. Private to "espólio": ipó.

"escolho" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "espólio" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • escolho ← ecsolho · esccolho · escloho · escohlo · escolhho · escollho · escoloh · esoclho

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "escolho" for "espólio" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/iʃ.ˈko.ʎu/ versus /iʃ.ˈpɔ.lju/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "escolho" vs "espólio" - which ranks higher?
"escolho" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,053 in our Portuguese list, against #27,472 for "espólio". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "escolho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "espólio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #26,702 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "escolho" and "espólio" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "espelho vs espólio". 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 #26,702 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