escutavsescutarWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#4,149
“escuta” frequency rank
#4,472
“escutar” frequency rank
8621
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature escuta escutar
Definition ato ou efeito de escutar prestar atenção auditiva; dar ouvidos

Letter map: escuta vs escutar

Shared letters muted; letters that set escuta and escutar apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. escuta runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against escutar's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
escuta
7 ch
escutar

Grammar separator: escuta vs escutar

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: escuta is anoun and escutaraverb. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “escuta” sits inside “escutar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8621, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

escuta is recorded at frequency rank #4,149, classified as anoun. escutar is at rank #4,472, tagged as averb, pronounced /iʃ.ku.ˈtaɾ/.

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 8621, this pair ranks #65,094 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of escuta vs escutar

Shared letters: acestu. Private to "escuta": -. Private to "escutar": r.

"escuta" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "escutar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • escuta ← ecsuta · esccuta · esctua · escuat · escutta · esscuta · esucta · secuta
  • escutar ← ecsutar · esccutar · esctuar · escuatr · escutarr · escutra · escuttar · esscutar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "escuta" for "escutar" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "escuta" is a noun and "escutar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "escuta" or "escutar" show up more?
"escuta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,149 in our Portuguese list, against #4,472 for "escutar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "escuta" and "escutar". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "escuta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "escutar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #65,094 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "escuta" and "escutar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "escoar vs escutar". 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 #65,094 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