escutarvsesgotarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,472
“escutar” frequency rank
#24,315
“esgotar” frequency rank
28787
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature escutar esgotar
Definition prestar atenção auditiva; dar ouvidos esvaziar

Where the eye mixes escutar and esgotar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. escutar and esgotar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
escutar
7 ch
esgotar

Why the eye confuses escutar with esgotar

A purely visual mix-up. escutar (/iʃ.ku.ˈtaɾ/) and esgotar (/iʒ.ɡu.ˈtaɾ/) 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 28787, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

escutar is recorded at frequency rank #4,472, classified as averb, pronounced /iʃ.ku.ˈtaɾ/. esgotar is at rank #24,315, tagged as averb, pronounced /iʒ.ɡu.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 28787, this pair ranks #39,994 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of escutar vs esgotar

Shared letters: aerst. Private to "escutar": cu. Private to "esgotar": go.

"escutar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "esgotar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • escutarecsutar · esccutar · esctuar · escuatr · escutarr · escutra · escuttar · esscutar
  • esgotaregsotar · esggotar · esgoatr · esgotarr · esgotra · esgottar · esgtoar · esogtar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "escutar" for "esgotar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/iʃ.ku.ˈtaɾ/ versus /iʒ.ɡu.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "escutar" vs "esgotar" - which ranks higher?
"escutar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,472 in our Portuguese list, against #24,315 for "esgotar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "escutar" and "esgotar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "escutar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "esgotar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #39,994 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "escutar" and "esgotar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "escoar vs esgotar". 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 #39,994 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