escurovsescutaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: escuro is a adjective, escuta is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“escuro” is an adjective and “escuta” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,139
“escuro” frequency rank
#4,149
“escuta” frequency rank
7288
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature escuro escuta
Definition não iluminado ato ou efeito de escutar

Letter map: escuro vs escuta

Shared letters muted; letters that set escuro and escuta apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. escuro and escuta follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
escuro
6 ch
escuta

Grammar separator: escuro vs escuta

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: escuro is anadjective and escutaanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7288, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

escuro is recorded at frequency rank #3,139, classified as anadj, pronounced /iʃ.ˈku.ɾu/. escuta is at rank #4,149, tagged as anoun.

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 7288, this pair ranks #66,875 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of escuro vs escuta

Shared letters: cesu. Private to "escuro": or. Private to "escuta": at.

"escuro" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "escuta" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • escuro ← ecsuro · esccuro · escruo · escuor · escurro · esscuro · esucro · securo
  • escuta ← ecsuta · esccuta · esctua · escuat · escutta · esscuta · esucta · secuta

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "escuro" for "escuta" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "escuro" is an adjective and "escuta" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "escuro" or "escuta"?
"escuro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,139 in our Portuguese list, against #4,149 for "escuta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "escuro" and "escuta".

  • Full dictionary entry for "escuro" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "escuta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,875 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "escuro" and "escuta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "escuro vs esmero". 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 #66,875 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