Which to use
“dead” is an adjective and “decade” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,859
- “dead” frequency rank
- #42,866
- “decade” frequency rank
- 49725
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dead | decade |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | morto | década |
Letter map: dead vs decade
Shared letters muted; letters that set dead and decade apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Grammar separator: dead vs decade
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dead is anadjective and decadeanoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49725, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dead is recorded at frequency rank #6,859, classified as anadj. decade is at rank #42,866, tagged as anoun.
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 49725, this pair ranks #15,266 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dead vs decade
Shared letters: ade. Private to "dead": -. Private to "decade": c.
"dead" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "decade" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dead" and "decade" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "dead" or "decade" show up more?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "dead" and "decade".
- Full dictionary entry for "dead" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "decade" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,266 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dead" and "decade" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decade vs declare". 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 #15,266 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.