estadovsestadosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#134
“estado” frequency rank
#332
“estados” frequency rank
466
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature estado estados
Definition circunstância em que se está, situação plural de estado

Letter map: estado vs estados

Shared letters muted; letters that set estado and estados apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. estado runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against estados's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
estado
7 ch
estados

Pair insight - estado / estados

estado and estados are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “estado” sits inside “estados”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 466, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

estado is recorded at frequency rank #134, classified as anoun. estados is at rank #332, tagged as anoun.

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 466, this pair ranks #75,192 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of estado vs estados

Shared letters: adeost. Private to "estado": -. Private to "estados": -.

"estado" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "estados" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • estado ← esatdo · esstado · estaddo · estaod · estdao · esttado · etsado · setado
  • estados ← esatdos · esstados · estaddos · estadoss · estadso · estaods · estdaos · esttados

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "estado" and "estados" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “estado” sits inside “estados”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "estado" or "estados"?
"estado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #134 in our Portuguese list, against #332 for "estados". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "estado" and "estados".

  • Full dictionary entry for "estado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "estados" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,192 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "estado" and "estados" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "estado vs esteio". 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 #75,192 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