estarvsestateWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: estar is a verb, estate is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“estar” is a verb and “estate” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#186
“estar” frequency rank
#32,593
“estate” frequency rank
32779
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature estar estate
Definition associa uma característica (momentânea, não permanente) a um ser verão

Letter map: estar vs estate

Shared letters muted; letters that set estar and estate apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. estar runs 5 letters (VCCVC) against estate's 6 (VCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
estar
6 ch
estate

Role in the sentence - estar and estate

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: estar is averb and estateanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32779, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

estar is recorded at frequency rank #186, classified as averb. estate is at rank #32,593, tagged as anoun, pronounced /es.ˈta.te/..

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 32779, this pair ranks #34,918 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of estar vs estate

Shared letters: aest. Private to "estar": r. Private to "estate": -.

"estar" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "estate" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • estar ← esatr · esstar · estarr · estra · esttar · etsar · setar
  • estate ← esatte · esstate · estaet · estatte · esttae · esttate · etsate · setate

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "estar" and "estate" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "estar" is a verb and "estate" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "estar" or "estate" show up more?
"estar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #186 in our Portuguese list, against #32,593 for "estate". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "estar" and "estate". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "estar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "estate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #34,918 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "estar" and "estate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "estate vs estrato". 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 #34,918 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