Which to use
“espia” is a noun and “está” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,012
- “espia” frequency rank
- #45
- “está” frequency rank
- 41057
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | espia | está |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pessoa que observa escondida | terceira pessoa do verbo estar no presente do indicativo; indica condição temporária |
Letter map: espia vs está
Shared letters muted; letters that set espia and está apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. espia runs 5 letters (VCCVV) against está's 4 (VCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: espia vs está
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: espia is anoun and estáaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41057, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
espia is recorded at frequency rank #41,012, classified as anoun, pronounced /iʃ.ˈpi.ɐ/. está is at rank #45, 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 41057, this pair ranks #24,951 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of espia vs está
Shared letters: es. Private to "espia": aip. Private to "está": tá.
"espia" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV · "está" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- espia ← epsia · esipa · espai · esppia · esspia · sepia
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "espia" for "está" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "espia" or "está" show up more?
After this comparison
You've compared "espia" and "está". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "espia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "está" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #24,951 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "espia" and "está" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "espia vs espinal". 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 #24,951 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.