Which to use
“espera” is a noun and “esperar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #825
- “espera” frequency rank
- #891
- “esperar” frequency rank
- 1716
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | espera | esperar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ato de esperar | ter esperança; aguardar com desejo e uma certa confiança de que algo vá se realizar |
Letter map: espera vs esperar
Shared letters muted; letters that set espera and esperar apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Part-of-speech tell for espera / esperar
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: espera is anoun and esperaraverb. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “espera” sits inside “esperar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1716, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
espera is recorded at frequency rank #825, classified as anoun, pronounced /iʃ.ˈpɛ.ɾɐ/. esperar is at rank #891, tagged as averb.
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 1716, this pair ranks #73,800 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of espera vs esperar
Shared letters: aeprs. Private to "espera": -. Private to "esperar": -.
"espera" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "esperar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "espera" and "esperar" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "espera" or "esperar"?
After this comparison
Pair "espera" vs "esperar" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "espera" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "esperar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #73,800 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "espera" and "esperar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "esperar vs espernear". 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 #73,800 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.