décadavsdescidaConfusable pair

Which to use

“década” and “descida” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,775
“década” frequency rank
#11,848
“descida” frequency rank
13623
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature década descida
Definition período de dez unidades ato de descer

Where the eye mixes década and descida

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
década
7 ch
descida

Look-alike desk: década vs descida

A purely visual mix-up. década (/ˈdɛ.kɐ.dɐ/) and descida (/dɨʃ.ˈsi.dɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13623, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

década is recorded at frequency rank #1,775, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɛ.kɐ.dɐ/. descida is at rank #11,848, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɨʃ.ˈsi.dɐ/.

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 13623, this pair ranks #58,668 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of década vs descida

Shared letters: acd. Private to "década": é. Private to "descida": eis.

"década" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "descida" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • descidaddescida · decsida · desccida · descdia · desciad · descidda · desicda · desscida

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "década" and "descida" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈdɛ.kɐ.dɐ/ versus /dɨʃ.ˈsi.dɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "década" vs "descida" - which ranks higher?
"década" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,775 in our Portuguese list, against #11,848 for "descida". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "década" and "descida" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "década" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "descida" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,668 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "década" and "descida" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "descida vs despido". 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 #58,668 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