estradavsestragoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,192
“estrada” frequency rank
#12,434
“estrago” frequency rank
13626
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature estrada estrago
Definition via terrestre por onde passam veículos ou pessoas: deterioração, prejuízo, dano

Where the eye mixes estrada and estrago

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. estrada and estrago follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
estrada
7 ch
estrago

Visual trap between estrada and estrago

A purely visual mix-up. estrada (/ɪʃ.ˈtɾa.dɐ/) and estrago (/iʃ.ˈtɾa.ɡu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13626, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

estrada is recorded at frequency rank #1,192, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪʃ.ˈtɾa.dɐ/. estrago is at rank #12,434, tagged as anoun, pronounced /iʃ.ˈtɾa.ɡu/.

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 13626, this pair ranks #58,663 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of estrada vs estrago

Shared letters: aerst. Private to "estrada": d. Private to "estrago": go.

"estrada" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV  ·  "estrago" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • estradaesrtada · esstrada · estarda · estraad · estradda · estrdaa · estrrada · esttrada
  • estragoesrtago · esstrago · estargo · estraggo · estraog · estrgao · estrrago · esttrago

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "estrada" for "estrago" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɪʃ.ˈtɾa.dɐ/ versus /iʃ.ˈtɾa.ɡu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "estrada" or "estrago" show up more?
"estrada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,192 in our Portuguese list, against #12,434 for "estrago". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "estrada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "estrago" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,663 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "estrada" and "estrago" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "estrago 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 #58,663 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