débil vs del, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#28,176
“débil” frequency rank: #1,706
“del” frequency rank: 29882
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	débil	del
Definition	que não resiste o suficiente	do, da, contração da preposição de com o artigo definido singular el:

Letter map: débil vs del

Shared letters muted; letters that set débil and del apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

5 ch

débil

3 ch

del

Grammar separator: débil vs del

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: débil is anadjective and delacontraction. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29882, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

débil is recorded at frequency rank #28,176, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈdɛ.biɫ/. 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 29882, this pair ranks #38,647 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of débil vs del

Shared letters: dl. Private to "débil": bié. Private to "del": e.

"débil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "del" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "débil" and "del" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "débil" is an adjective and "del" a contraction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Frequency check: "débil" 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 #28,176 for "débil". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

Full dictionary entry for "débil" 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 #38,647 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"débil" and "del" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "débil vs devi". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #38,647 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.