dedicadovsdelicadoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,321
“dedicado” frequency rank
#10,343
“delicado” frequency rank
13664
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dedicado delicado
Definition devotado; que se dedica que usa de delicadeza

Where the eye mixes dedicado and delicado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
dedicado
8 ch
delicado

Visual trap between dedicado and delicado

A purely visual mix-up. dedicado (/dɨ.di.ˈka.du/) and delicado (/dɨ.li.ˈka.du/) 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 a single letter - d in “dedicado” becomes l in “delicado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13664, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dedicado is recorded at frequency rank #3,321, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɨ.di.ˈka.du/. delicado is at rank #10,343, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɨ.li.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 13664, this pair ranks #58,615 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dedicado vs delicado

Shared letters: acdeio. Private to "dedicado": -. Private to "delicado": l.

"dedicado" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "delicado" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dedicadoddedicado · ddeicado · dedciado · deddicado · dediacdo · dedicaddo · dedicaod · dediccado
  • delicadoddelicado · deilcado · delciado · deliacdo · delicaddo · delicaod · deliccado · delicdao

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dedicado" and "delicado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/dɨ.di.ˈka.du/ versus /dɨ.li.ˈka.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dedicado" vs "delicado" - which ranks higher?
"dedicado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,321 in our Portuguese list, against #10,343 for "delicado". 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 "dedicado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "delicado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,615 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dedicado" and "delicado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delicado vs duplicado". 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 #58,615 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