estarvsestimarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#186
“estar” frequency rank
#25,300
“estimar” frequency rank
25486
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature estar estimar
Definition associa uma característica (momentânea, não permanente) a um ser ter afeição a

Letter map: estar vs estimar

Shared letters muted; letters that set estar and estimar apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. estar runs 5 letters (VCCVC) against estimar's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
estar
7 ch
estimar

Spelling & dictionary notes on estar vs estimar

estar and estimar 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

estar is recorded at frequency rank #186, classified as averb. estimar is at rank #25,300, tagged as averb, pronounced /iʃ.ti.ˈmaɾ/.

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 25486, this pair ranks #43,810 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of estar vs estimar

Shared letters: aerst. Private to "estar": -. Private to "estimar": im.

"estar" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "estimar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • estar ← esatr · esstar · estarr · estra · esttar · etsar · setar
  • estimar ← esitmar · esstimar · estiamr · estimarr · estimmar · estimra · estmiar · esttimar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "estar" and "estimar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "estar" vs "estimar" - which ranks higher?
"estar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #186 in our Portuguese list, against #25,300 for "estimar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "estar" and "estimar".

  • Full dictionary entry for "estar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "estimar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,810 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "estar" and "estimar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "estampar vs estimar". 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 #43,810 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