décimovsdevidoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#9,044
“décimo” frequency rank
#563
“devido” frequency rank
9607
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature décimo devido
Definition refere-se àquele que ocupa a posição dez em uma série; o que vem depois do nono que se deve

Where the eye mixes décimo and devido

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

6 ch
décimo
6 ch
devido

Why the eye confuses décimo with devido

A purely visual mix-up. décimo (/ˈdɛ.si.mu/) and devido (/dɨ.ˈvi.du/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9607, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

décimo is recorded at frequency rank #9,044, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈdɛ.si.mu/. 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 9607, this pair ranks #63,764 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of décimo vs devido

Shared letters: dio. Private to "décimo": cmé. Private to "devido": ev.

"décimo" · 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

Can "décimo" and "devido" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈdɛ.si.mu/ versus /dɨ.ˈvi.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "décimo" vs "devido" - which ranks higher?
"devido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #563 in our Portuguese list, against #9,044 for "décimo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "décimo" 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 #63,764 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "décimo" 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 #63,764 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