exceção vs excesso, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#3,327
“exceção” frequency rank: #5,422
“excesso” frequency rank: 8749
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	exceção	excesso
Definition	ato ou efeito de excetuar	diferença para mais:

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set exceção and excesso apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

exceção

7 ch

excesso

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. exceção (/ɐjʃ.sɛ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and excesso (/ɐjʃ.ˈsɛ.su/) 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 8749, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exceção is recorded at frequency rank #3,327, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɐjʃ.sɛ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. excesso is at rank #5,422, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐjʃ.ˈsɛ.su/.

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 8749, this pair ranks #64,907 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of exceção vs excesso

Shared letters: ceox. Private to "exceção": ãç. Private to "excesso": s.

"exceção" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV · "excesso" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

excesso ← ecxesso · exccesso · exceso · excesos · excseso · execsso · exxcesso · xecesso

Frequency comparison

exceção#3,327

excesso#5,422

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "exceção" and "excesso" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ɐjʃ.sɛ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /ɐjʃ.ˈsɛ.su/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "exceção" or "excesso"?

"exceção" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,327 in our Portuguese list, against #5,422 for "excesso". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering exceção vs excesso

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “exceção” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable