Which to use
“ético” is an adjective and “êxito” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,268
- “ético” frequency rank
- #5,806
- “êxito” frequency rank
- 20074
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ético | êxito |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | relativo à ética ou à moral | resultado |
Where the eye mixes ético and êxito
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ético and êxito follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: ético vs êxito
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ético is /ˈɛ.ti.ku/ while êxito is /ˈɐj.zi.tu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20074, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ético is recorded at frequency rank #14,268, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈɛ.ti.ku/. êxito is at rank #5,806, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɐj.zi.tu/.
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 20074, this pair ranks #50,531 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ético vs êxito
Shared letters: iot. Private to "ético": cé. Private to "êxito": xê.
"ético" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "êxito" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ético" for "êxito" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ético" or "êxito" show up more?
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 "ético" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "êxito" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #50,531 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ético" and "êxito" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "eólico vs ético". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #50,531 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.