dedicadovsderivadoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,321
“dedicado” frequency rank
#8,037
“derivado” frequency rank
11358
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dedicado derivado
Definition devotado; que se dedica originado

Where the eye mixes dedicado and derivado

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

8 ch
dedicado
8 ch
derivado

Why the eye confuses dedicado with derivado

A purely visual mix-up. dedicado (/dɨ.di.ˈka.du/) and derivado (/dɨ.ɾi.ˈva.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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11358, 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/. derivado is at rank #8,037, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɨ.ɾi.ˈva.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 11358, this pair ranks #61,502 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dedicado vs derivado

Shared letters: adeio. Private to "dedicado": c. Private to "derivado": rv.

"dedicado" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "derivado" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dedicado ← ddedicado · ddeicado · dedciado · deddicado · dediacdo · dedicaddo · dedicaod · dediccado
  • derivado ← dderivado · deirvado · deriavdo · derivaddo · derivaod · derivdao · derivvado · derrivado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dedicado" for "derivado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/dɨ.di.ˈka.du/ versus /dɨ.ɾi.ˈva.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "dedicado" or "derivado" show up more?
"dedicado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,321 in our Portuguese list, against #8,037 for "derivado". 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 "derivado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,502 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dedicado" and "derivado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "derivação vs derivado". 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 #61,502 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