dedicação vs dedicado, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#7,517
“dedicação” frequency rank: #3,321
“dedicado” frequency rank: 10838
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dedicação	dedicado
Definition	ato ou efeito de dedicar	devotado; que se dedica

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dedicação and dedicado apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch

dedicação

8 ch

dedicado

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dedicação is /dɨ.di.kɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ while dedicado is /dɨ.di.ˈka.du/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10838, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dedicação is recorded at frequency rank #7,517, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɨ.di.kɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. dedicado is at rank #3,321, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɨ.di.ˈka.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 10838, this pair ranks #62,156 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dedicação vs dedicado

Shared letters: acdeio. Private to "dedicação": ãç. Private to "dedicado": -.

"dedicação" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVV · "dedicado" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

dedicado ← ddedicado · ddeicado · dedciado · deddicado · dediacdo · dedicaddo · dedicaod · dediccado

Frequency comparison

dedicação#7,517

dedicado#3,321

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dedicação" and "dedicado" be used interchangeably?

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

Which is more common, "dedicação" or "dedicado"?

"dedicado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,321 in our Portuguese list, against #7,517 for "dedicação". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering dedicação vs dedicado

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “dedicação”; for an adjective, it's “dedicado”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dedicação” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable