del

contraction

The verdict

“del” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #1,706) as a contraction. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#1,706
frequency rank, Portuguese
1,193
“D” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - do, da, contração da preposição de com o artigo definido singular el:

Corpus desk

Index PT-del · del · Portuguese

del · rank #1,706 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,706
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,193
  • PHOTO-FINISH cuidar

Nearest frequency peer: cuidar (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Vizinhos de frequência do confusável “del”

Pares de peso semelhante no corpus, aparte dos confusáveis abaixo

corpus weight

What this shows As barras situam “del” face aos lemas portugueses mais próximos por rank, não um reprint da secretária de confusáveis.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

del vs do
33% similar
del vs DJ
0% similar
del vs du
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for del
PropertyValue
Headworddel
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechContraction
Letters3
Frequency rank#1,706
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rank de corpus junto a confusáveis de “del”

A frequência vai do punhado de palavras do dia a dia (esquerda) à cauda longa quase nunca usada (direita).delcai aqui:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Os ticks avançam em logaritmo; cada um é da ordem de dez vezes mais raro. Na mesma faixa de raridade aparecem “cuidar” (#1,705), “distribuição” (#1,707), “corrida” (#1,704). Entre 1,193 lemas com “D”, “del” fica em #1,706. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for del is neighbouring look-alikes ("do", "DJ", …), not just typos; it is acontraction. Frequency #1,706 among 1,193 “D” headwords. Gloss: "do, da, contração da preposição de com o artigo definido singular el:".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for del, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable Portuguese rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "do", "DJ", "du", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct Portuguese form is del, spelled D-E-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    do, da, contração da preposição de com o artigo definido singular el:

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how del appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Cangues foi capital del Reinu d'Asturies fasta'l 774.
  2. Congo ye un país del África ecuatorial.

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 "del"?
"del" is spelled D-E-L.
What does "del" mean?
As a contraction, "del" means: do, da, contração da preposição de com o artigo definido singular el:
What words are commonly confused with "del"?
"del" is commonly confused with "do", "DJ", "du". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "del" come from?
"del" is a Portuguese word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Portuguese words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "del", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list