débitovsdevidoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: débito is a noun, devido is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“débito” is a noun and “devido” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,575
“débito” frequency rank
#563
“devido” frequency rank
15138
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature débito devido
Definition dívida que se deve

Where the eye mixes débito and devido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
débito
6 ch
devido

Look-alike desk: débito vs devido

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: débito is /ˈdɛ.bi.tu/ while devido is /dɨ.ˈvi.du/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15138, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

débito is recorded at frequency rank #14,575, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɛ.bi.tu/. devido is at rank #563, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɨ.ˈvi.du/.

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 15138, this pair ranks #56,767 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of débito vs devido

Shared letters: dio. Private to "débito": bté. Private to "devido": ev.

"débito" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "devido" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devidoddevido · deivdo · devdio · deviddo · deviod · devvido · dveido · edvido

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "débito" and "devido" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "débito" is a noun and "devido" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "débito" vs "devido" - which ranks higher?
"devido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #563 in our Portuguese list, against #14,575 for "débito". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "débito" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,767 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "débito" and "devido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "devi vs devido". 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 #56,767 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