Which to use
“escrito” is an adjective and “espírito” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,144
- “escrito” frequency rank
- #1,191
- “espírito” frequency rank
- 2335
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | escrito | espírito |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | expresso por sinais gráficos | alma |
Where the eye mixes escrito and espírito
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. escrito runs 7 letters (VCCCVCV) against espírito's 8 (VCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses escrito with espírito
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: escrito is /iʃ.ˈkɾi.tu/ while espírito is /es.ˈpi.ɾi.tu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2335, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
escrito is recorded at frequency rank #1,144, classified as anadj, pronounced /iʃ.ˈkɾi.tu/. espírito is at rank #1,191, tagged as anoun, pronounced /es.ˈpi.ɾi.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 2335, this pair ranks #73,079 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of escrito vs espírito
Shared letters: eiorst. Private to "escrito": c. Private to "espírito": pí.
"escrito" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV · "espírito" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- escrito ← ecsrito · esccrito · escirto · escriot · escritto · escrrito · escrtio · esrcito
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "escrito" and "espírito" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "escrito" or "espírito"?
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 "escrito" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "espírito" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #73,079 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "escrito" and "espírito" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "empírico vs espírito". 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 #73,079 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.