danovsdensoTell them apart

Quick tell: dano is a noun, denso is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dano” is a noun and “denso” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,994
“dano” frequency rank
#19,113
“denso” frequency rank
24107
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dano denso
Definition mal ou ofensa pessoal que tem muita massa em relação ao volume

Where the eye mixes dano and denso

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

4 ch
dano
5 ch
denso

Why the eye confuses dano with denso

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dano is /ˈdɐ.nu/ while denso is /ˈdẽ.su/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24107, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dano is recorded at frequency rank #4,994, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɐ.nu/. denso is at rank #19,113, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈdẽ.su/.

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 24107, this pair ranks #45,597 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dano vs denso

Shared letters: dno. Private to "dano": a. Private to "denso": es.

"dano" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "denso" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • danoadno · danno · daon · ddano · dnao
  • densoddenso · dennso · denos · densso · desno · dneso · ednso

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dano" for "denso" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dano" is a noun and "denso" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "dano" or "denso" show up more?
"dano" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,994 in our Portuguese list, against #19,113 for "denso". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dano" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "denso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #45,597 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dano" and "denso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "denso vs dreno". 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 #45,597 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