spacevsstackConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#13,845
“space” frequency rank
#38,497
“stack” frequency rank
52342
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature space stack
Definition espaço acúmulo, especialmente organizado no eixo vertical; pilha

Where the eye mixes space and stack

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
space
5 ch
stack

Why the eye confuses space with stack

A purely visual mix-up. space (/ˈspeɪs/) and stack (/stæk/) 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 52342, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

space is recorded at frequency rank #13,845, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈspeɪs/. stack is at rank #38,497, tagged as anoun, pronounced /stæk/.

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 52342, this pair ranks #12,827 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of space vs stack

Shared letters: acs. Private to "space": ep. Private to "stack": kt.

"space" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "stack" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • spacepsace · sapce · spacce · spaec · spcae · sppace · sspace
  • stacksatck · sstack · stacck · stackk · stakc · stcak · sttack · tsack

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "space" for "stack" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈspeɪs/ versus /stæk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "space" vs "stack" - which ranks higher?
"space" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,845 in our Portuguese list, against #38,497 for "stack". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "space" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "stack" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,827 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "space" and "stack" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spark vs stack". 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 #12,827 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