espinhalvsespinhoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: espinhal is a adjective, espinho is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“espinhal” is an adjective and “espinho” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,718
“espinhal” frequency rank
#16,755
“espinho” frequency rank
46473
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature espinhal espinho
Definition relativo à espinha ou à coluna vertebral parte aguda e picante de um vegetal

Letter map: espinhal vs espinho

Shared letters muted; letters that set espinhal and espinho apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.

8 ch
espinhal
7 ch
espinho

Grammar separator: espinhal vs espinho

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: espinhal is anadjective and espinhoanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46473, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

espinhal is recorded at frequency rank #29,718, classified as anadj. espinho is at rank #16,755, tagged as anoun, pronounced /iʃ.ˈpi.ɲu/.

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 46473, this pair ranks #18,818 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of espinhal vs espinho

Shared letters: ehinps. Private to "espinhal": al. Private to "espinho": o.

"espinhal" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "espinho" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • espinhalepsinhal · esipnhal · espihnal · espinahl · espinhall · espinhhal · espinhla · espinnhal
  • espinhoepsinho · esipnho · espihno · espinhho · espinnho · espinoh · espniho · esppinho

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "espinhal" and "espinho" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "espinhal" is an adjective and "espinho" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "espinhal" vs "espinho" - which ranks higher?
"espinho" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,755 in our Portuguese list, against #29,718 for "espinhal". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "espinhal" and "espinho".

  • Full dictionary entry for "espinhal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "espinho" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,818 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "espinhal" and "espinho" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "espinal vs espinhal". 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 #18,818 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