estevsetWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: este is a pronoun, et is a conjunction, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“este” is a pronoun and “et” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#77
“este” frequency rank
#2,680
“et” frequency rank
2757
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature este et
Definition relativo a alguém ou alguma coisa que esteja perto de quem fala: e; também

Letter map: este vs et

Shared letters muted; letters that set este and et apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
este
2 ch
et

Role in the sentence - este and et

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: este is apronoun and etaconjunction. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2757, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

este is recorded at frequency rank #77, classified as apron. et is at rank #2,680, tagged as aconj, pronounced /et/.

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 2757, this pair ranks #72,521 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of este vs et

Shared letters: et. Private to "este": s. Private to "et": -.

"este" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "et" · 2 letters · shape VC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • esteeset · esste · estte · etse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "este" for "et" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "este" is a pronoun and "et" a conjunction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "este" vs "et" - which ranks higher?
"este" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #77 in our Portuguese list, against #2,680 for "et". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pair "este" vs "et" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "este" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "et" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #72,521 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "este" and "et" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "et vs être". 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 #72,521 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