dayvsdelWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: day is a noun, del is a contraction, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“day” is a noun and “del” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,512
“day” frequency rank
#1,706
“del” frequency rank
4218
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature day del
Definition dia (período de 24 horas) do, da, contração da preposição de com o artigo definido singular el:

Letter map: day vs del

Shared letters muted; letters that set day and del apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
day
3 ch
del

Role in the sentence - day and del

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: day is anoun and delacontraction. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4218, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

day is recorded at frequency rank #2,512, classified as anoun, pronounced /deɪ/. del is at rank #1,706, tagged as acontraction.

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 4218, this pair ranks #70,770 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of day vs del

Shared letters: d. Private to "day": ay. Private to "del": el.

"day" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "del" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "day" and "del" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "day" is a noun and "del" a contraction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "day" vs "del" - which ranks higher?
"del" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,706 in our Portuguese list, against #2,512 for "day". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "day" and "del". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "day" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "del" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,770 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "day" and "del" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs day". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #70,770 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