Which to use
“dal” is a noun and “dela” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,029
- “dal” frequency rank
- #295
- “dela” frequency rank
- 27324
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dal | dela |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | olho | contração da preposição de e do pronome ela |
Where the eye mixes dal and dela
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. dal runs 3 letters (CVC) against dela's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dal with dela
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dal is /ta˨˦/ while dela is /ˈde.lɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27324, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dal is recorded at frequency rank #27,029, classified as anoun, pronounced /ta˨˦/. dela is at rank #295, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /ˈde.lɐ/.
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 27324, this pair ranks #41,672 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dal vs dela
Shared letters: adl. Private to "dal": -. Private to "dela": e.
"dal" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "dela" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dela ← ddela · deal · della · dlea · edla
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dal" and "dela" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "dal" vs "dela" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dela" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #41,672 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dal" and "dela" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dal vs dat". 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 #41,672 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.