Which to use
“esforço” and “esterco” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,924
- “esforço” frequency rank
- #38,264
- “esterco” frequency rank
- 40188
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | esforço | esterco |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o fato de exercer seus poderes físicos ou mentais | excrementos de animais misturados com restos vegetais, em decomposição, ou já descompostos, que servem para volver-lhe a fertilidade ao terreno depois das culturas e assim favorecer as novas plantações |
Where the eye mixes esforço and esterco
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between esforço and esterco
A purely visual mix-up. esforço (/iʃ.ˈfoɾ.su/) and esterco (/iʃ.ˈteɾ.ku/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40188, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
esforço is recorded at frequency rank #1,924, classified as anoun, pronounced /iʃ.ˈfoɾ.su/. esterco is at rank #38,264, tagged as anoun, pronounced /iʃ.ˈteɾ.ku/.
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 40188, this pair ranks #25,967 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of esforço vs esterco
Shared letters: eors. Private to "esforço": fç. Private to "esterco": ct.
"esforço" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV · "esterco" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- esterco ← esetrco · essterco · estecro · estercco · esteroc · esterrco · estreco · estterco
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "esforço" for "esterco" ever safe?
Which is more common, "esforço" or "esterco"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "esforço" and "esterco" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "esforço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "esterco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #25,967 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "esforço" and "esterco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "esterco vs esterno". 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 #25,967 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.