def vs del, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“def” is an adjective and “del” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,132
“def” frequency rank: #1,706
“del” frequency rank: 33838
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	def	del
Definition	algo muito bom	do, da, contração da preposição de com o artigo definido singular el:

Letter map: def vs del

Shared letters muted; letters that set def and del apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch

def

3 ch

del

Grammar separator: def vs del

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: def is anadjective and delacontraction. On the page they differ by a single letter - f in “def” becomes l in “del”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33838, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

def is recorded at frequency rank #32,132, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɛf/. del is at rank #1,706, tagged as acontraction.

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 33838, this pair ranks #33,572 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of def vs del

Shared letters: de. Private to "def": f. Private to "del": l.

"def" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "del" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "def" for "del" ever safe?

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

Frequency check: "def" vs "del" - which ranks higher?

"del" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,706 in our Portuguese list, against #32,132 for "def". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

You've compared "def" and "del". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "def" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "del" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #33,572 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"def" and "del" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs def". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #33,572 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.