decididovsdecisivoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,402
“decidido” frequency rank
#8,600
“decisivo” frequency rank
14002
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature decidido decisivo
Definition corajoso que decide

Where the eye mixes decidido and decisivo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. decidido and decisivo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
decidido
8 ch
decisivo

Why the eye confuses decidido with decisivo

A purely visual mix-up. decidido (/dɨ.sɨ.ˈdi.du/) and decisivo (/dɨ.si.ˈzi.vu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14002, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

decidido is recorded at frequency rank #5,402, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɨ.sɨ.ˈdi.du/. decisivo is at rank #8,600, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɨ.si.ˈzi.vu/.

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 14002, this pair ranks #58,197 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of decidido vs decisivo

Shared letters: cdeio. Private to "decidido": -. Private to "decisivo": sv.

"decidido" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "decisivo" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • decidido ← dceidido · ddecidido · deccidido · decdiido · deciddido · deciddio · decididdo · decidiod
  • decisivo ← dceisivo · ddecisivo · deccisivo · deciisvo · decisiov · decisivvo · decissivo · decisvio

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "decidido" and "decisivo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/dɨ.sɨ.ˈdi.du/ versus /dɨ.si.ˈzi.vu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "decidido" vs "decisivo" - which ranks higher?
"decidido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,402 in our Portuguese list, against #8,600 for "decisivo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "decidido" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "decisivo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,197 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "decidido" and "decisivo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decision vs decisivo". 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 #58,197 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