Which to use
“esterco” is a noun and “externo” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,264
- “esterco” frequency rank
- #6,420
- “externo” frequency rank
- 44684
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | esterco | externo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | excrementos de animais misturados com restos vegetais, em decomposição, ou já descompostos, que servem para volver-lhe a fertilidade ao terreno depois das culturas e assim favorecer as novas plantações | que está do lado de fora |
Where the eye mixes esterco and externo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses esterco with externo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: esterco is /iʃ.ˈteɾ.ku/ while externo is /ɪs.ˈter.nu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44684, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
esterco is recorded at frequency rank #38,264, classified as anoun, pronounced /iʃ.ˈteɾ.ku/. externo is at rank #6,420, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪs.ˈter.nu/.
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 44684, this pair ranks #20,752 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of esterco vs externo
Shared letters: eort. Private to "esterco": cs. Private to "externo": nx.
"esterco" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV · "externo" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "esterco" and "externo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "esterco" or "externo"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "esterco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "externo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #20,752 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "esterco" and "externo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "esterco vs esterno". 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 #20,752 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.