competente
/kõ.pɨ.ˈtẽ.tɨ/
The verdict
“competente” is a moderately-common Portuguese word, ranked #13,693 in Portuguese word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #13,693
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 10
- letters
- 15
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - que tem competência
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | competente |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /kõ.pɨ.ˈtẽ.tɨ/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #13,693 |
| Misspellings tracked | 15 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “competente” sits in Portuguese frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Portuguese entry for competente is 10 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kõ.pɨ.ˈtẽ.tɨ/. Corpus data places it at rank #13,693 in overall Portuguese word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "que tem competência".
Our generated misspelling index lists 15 likely wrong-spelling variants for competente, with forms such as "ccompetente", "cmopetente", and "comeptente". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "combatente", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct Portuguese form is competente, spelled C-O-M-P-E-T-E-N-T-E.
Definition
- 1que tem competência
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccompetente,cmopetente,comeptente,commpetente,compeetnte,competenet,competennte,competentte,competetne,competnete,compettente,comppetente,compteente,copmetente,ocmpetente
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of competente - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "competente"?
What does "competente" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "competente"?
How do you pronounce "competente"?
What language does "competente" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “competente”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is C-O-M-P-E-T-E-N-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kõ.pɨ.ˈtẽ.tɨ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “combatente” - see the side-by-side comparison. competente vs combatente
- Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.