Which to use
“de” is a preposition and “dell” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1
- “de” frequency rank
- #19,394
- “dell” frequency rank
- 19395
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | de | dell |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | estabelece uma ligação entre duas palavras, (geralmente uma relação de subordinação), podendo expressar | vale |
Where the eye mixes de and dell
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses de with dell
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: de is /ʤɪ/; /ˈde/ (em finais de frases interrogativas, exemplo: estamos falando de?) while dell is /dɛl/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “de” sits inside “dell”, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19395, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
de is recorded at frequency rank #1, classified as aprep, pronounced /ʤɪ/; /ˈde/ (em finais de frases interrogativas, exemplo: estamos falando de?). dell is at rank #19,394, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɛl/.
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 19395, this pair ranks #51,336 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of de vs dell
Shared letters: de. Private to "de": -. Private to "dell": l.
"de" · 2 letters · shape CV · "dell" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dell ← ddell · dlel · edll
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "de" for "dell" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "de" or "dell" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "de" and "dell" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "de" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dell" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #51,336 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "de" and "dell" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dell vs devi". 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 #51,336 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.