Which to use
“daquela” is an adverb and “daquilo” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,472
- “daquela” frequency rank
- #4,304
- “daquilo” frequency rank
- 6776
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | daquela | daquilo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | em aquele tempo, em aquele momento, em tal ocasião, em aquela altura | contração da preposição de com o pronome demonstrativo aquilo: |
Where the eye mixes daquela and daquilo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses daquela with daquilo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: daquela is /dɐ.ˈkɛ.lɐ/ while daquilo is /dɐ.ˈki.lu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6776, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
daquela is recorded at frequency rank #2,472, classified as anadv, pronounced /dɐ.ˈkɛ.lɐ/. daquilo is at rank #4,304, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /dɐ.ˈki.lu/.
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 6776, this pair ranks #67,565 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of daquela vs daquilo
Shared letters: adlqu. Private to "daquela": e. Private to "daquilo": io.
"daquela" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV · "daquilo" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "daquela" and "daquilo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "daquela" vs "daquilo" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "daquela" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "daquilo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,565 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "daquela" and "daquilo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "daquela vs duquesa". 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 #67,565 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.