Which to use
“dead” is an adjective and “death” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,859
- “dead” frequency rank
- #7,267
- “death” frequency rank
- 14126
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dead | death |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | morto | morte |
Letter map: dead vs death
Shared letters muted; letters that set dead and death apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Role in the sentence - dead and death
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dead is anadjective and deathanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14126, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dead is recorded at frequency rank #6,859, classified as anadj. death is at rank #7,267, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɛθ/.
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 14126, this pair ranks #58,041 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dead vs death
Shared letters: ade. Private to "dead": -. Private to "death": ht.
"dead" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "death" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dead" for "death" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dead" vs "death" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "dead" and "death".
- Full dictionary entry for "dead" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "death" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #58,041 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dead" and "death" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs death". 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 #58,041 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.