ostravsoutroWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ostra is a noun, outro is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ostra” is a noun and “outro” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,449
“ostra” frequency rank
#141
“outro” frequency rank
37590
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ostra outro
Definition nome comum a vários moluscos bivalves da família dos ostreídeos, alguns tendo importância econômica por serem comestíveis e de alto valor nutritivo, outras espécies que são cultivadas para a produção de pérolas, que vivem fixados a alguma base que é diferente da pessoa ou da coisa que foi mencionada; que não é o mesmo; diverso, diferente

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ostra and outro apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
ostra
5 ch
outro

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ostra is /ˈos.tɾɐ/ while outro is /ˈow.tɾu/. 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 pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37590, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ostra is recorded at frequency rank #37,449, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈos.tɾɐ/. outro is at rank #141, tagged as apron, pronounced /ˈow.tɾu/.

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 37590, this pair ranks #28,994 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ostra vs outro

Shared letters: ort. Private to "ostra": as. Private to "outro": u.

"ostra" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV  ·  "outro" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ostraosrta · osstra · ostar · ostrra · osttra · otsra · sotra
  • outrooturo · ourto · outor · outrro · outtro · uotro

Frequency comparison

ostra#37,449
outro#141

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ostra" and "outro" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ostra" is a noun and "outro" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ostra" or "outro"?
"outro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #141 in our Portuguese list, against #37,449 for "ostra". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering ostra vs outro

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “ostra”; for a pronoun, it's “outro”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ostra” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list