esquivsesquiloTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,109
“esqui” frequency rank
#22,635
“esquilo” frequency rank
37744
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature esqui esquilo
Definition prancha fina e alongada que quando calçadas ou acopladas (a um carrinho, por exemplo) ajudam a deslizar sobre a neve, água, grama ou outra superfície lisa mamífero roedor da família Sciuridae

Where the eye mixes esqui and esquilo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. esqui runs 5 letters (VCCVV) against esquilo's 7 (VCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
esqui
7 ch
esquilo

Look-alike desk: esqui vs esquilo

A purely visual mix-up. esqui (/is.ˈkiː/) and esquilo (/ɪs.ˈki.lʊ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “esqui” sits inside “esquilo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37744, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

esqui is recorded at frequency rank #15,109, classified as anoun, pronounced /is.ˈkiː/. esquilo is at rank #22,635, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɪs.ˈki.lʊ/.

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 37744, this pair ranks #28,821 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of esqui vs esquilo

Shared letters: eiqsu. Private to "esqui": -. Private to "esquilo": lo.

"esqui" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV  ·  "esquilo" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • esqui ← eqsui · esqiu · esqqui · essqui · esuqi · sequi
  • esquilo ← eqsuilo · esqiulo · esqquilo · esquillo · esquiol · esqulio · essquilo · esuqilo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "esqui" and "esquilo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/is.ˈkiː/ versus /ɪs.ˈki.lʊ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "esqui" vs "esquilo" - which ranks higher?
"esqui" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,109 in our Portuguese list, against #22,635 for "esquilo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "esqui" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "esquilo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #28,821 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "esqui" and "esquilo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "esquiar vs esquilo". 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 #28,821 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