escopovsesgotoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,839
“escopo” frequency rank
#7,395
“esgoto” frequency rank
22234
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature escopo esgoto
Definition o que se pretende atingir cano ou orifício para dar vazão a qualquer líquido

Where the eye mixes escopo and esgoto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
escopo
6 ch
esgoto

Visual trap between escopo and esgoto

A purely visual mix-up. escopo (/es.ˈko.pu/) and esgoto (/iʒ.ˈɡo.tu/) 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 22234, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

escopo is recorded at frequency rank #14,839, classified as anoun, pronounced /es.ˈko.pu/. esgoto is at rank #7,395, tagged as anoun, pronounced /iʒ.ˈɡo.tu/.

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 22234, this pair ranks #47,863 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of escopo vs esgoto

Shared letters: eos. Private to "escopo": cp. Private to "esgoto": gt.

"escopo" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "esgoto" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • escopoecsopo · esccopo · escoop · escoppo · escpoo · esocpo · esscopo · secopo
  • esgotoegsoto · esggoto · esgoot · esgotto · esgtoo · esogto · essgoto · segoto

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "escopo" and "esgoto" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/es.ˈko.pu/ versus /iʒ.ˈɡo.tu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "escopo" or "esgoto" show up more?
"esgoto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,395 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "escopo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "esgoto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #47,863 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "escopo" and "esgoto" 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 #47,863 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