etvsevTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#2,680
“et” frequency rank
#26,740
“ev” frequency rank
29420
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature et ev
Definition e; também casa

Where the eye mixes et and ev

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
et
2 ch
ev

Why the eye confuses et with ev

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: et is /et/ while ev is /ɛv/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - t in “et” becomes v in “ev”, and the parts of speech differ too (conjunction vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29420, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

et is recorded at frequency rank #2,680, classified as aconj, pronounced /et/. ev is at rank #26,740, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɛv/.

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 29420, this pair ranks #39,220 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of et vs ev

Shared letters: e. Private to "et": t. Private to "ev": v.

"et" · 2 letters · shape VC  ·  "ev" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "et" for "ev" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "et" is a conjunction and "ev" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "et" or "ev" show up more?
"et" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,680 in our Portuguese list, against #26,740 for "ev". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "et" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ev" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #39,220 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "et" and "ev" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ear vs ev". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #39,220 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