Which to use
“defeito” is a noun and “direito” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,530
- “defeito” frequency rank
- #262
- “direito” frequency rank
- 6792
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | defeito | direito |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | falha, imperfeição (tanto física quanto moral) | que segue ou se estende em linha reta |
Where the eye mixes defeito and direito
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. defeito and direito follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: defeito vs direito
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: defeito is /dɨ.ˈfɐj.tu/ while direito is /di.ˈɾɐj.tu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6792, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
defeito is recorded at frequency rank #6,530, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɨ.ˈfɐj.tu/. direito is at rank #262, tagged as anadj, pronounced /di.ˈɾɐj.tu/.
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 6792, this pair ranks #67,541 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of defeito vs direito
Shared letters: deiot. Private to "defeito": f. Private to "direito": r.
"defeito" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV · "direito" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "defeito" for "direito" ever safe?
Which is more common, "defeito" or "direito"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "defeito" and "direito" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "defeito" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "direito" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,541 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "defeito" and "direito" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decerto vs defeito". 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 #67,541 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.