Which to use
“defesa” and “despesa” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #723
- “defesa” frequency rank
- #15,784
- “despesa” frequency rank
- 16507
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | defesa | despesa |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ato ou efeito de defender | ato ou efeito de despender |
Letter map: defesa vs despesa
Shared letters muted; letters that set defesa and despesa apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. defesa runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against despesa's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Pair insight - defesa / despesa
defesa and despesa are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16507, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
defesa is recorded at frequency rank #723, classified as anoun. despesa is at rank #15,784, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɨʃ.ˈpe.zɐ/.
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 16507, this pair ranks #54,996 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of defesa vs despesa
Shared letters: ades. Private to "defesa": f. Private to "despesa": p.
"defesa" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "despesa" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "defesa" for "despesa" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "defesa" or "despesa" show up more?
After this comparison
You've compared "defesa" and "despesa". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "defesa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "despesa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #54,996 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "defesa" and "despesa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "despensa vs despesa". 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 #54,996 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.