degustarvsdesgastarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#49,911
“degustar” frequency rank
#37,754
“desgastar” frequency rank
87665
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature degustar desgastar
Definition tomar o gosto a destruir pouco a pouco

Where the eye mixes degustar and desgastar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. degustar runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against desgastar's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
degustar
9 ch
desgastar

Look-alike desk: degustar vs desgastar

A purely visual mix-up. degustar (/dɨ.ɡuʃ.ˈtaɾ/) and desgastar (/deʒ.gaʃ.ˈtax/, /deʒ.gaʃ.ˈta/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87665, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

degustar is recorded at frequency rank #49,911, classified as averb, pronounced /dɨ.ɡuʃ.ˈtaɾ/. desgastar is at rank #37,754, tagged as averb, pronounced /deʒ.gaʃ.ˈtax/, /deʒ.gaʃ.ˈta/.

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 87665, this pair ranks #467 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of degustar vs desgastar

Shared letters: adegrst. Private to "degustar": u. Private to "desgastar": -.

"degustar" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "desgastar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • degustar ← ddegustar · deggustar · degsutar · degusatr · degusstar · degustarr · degustra · degusttar
  • desgastar ← ddesgastar · degsastar · desagstar · desgasatr · desgasstar · desgastarr · desgastra · desgasttar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "degustar" and "desgastar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/dɨ.ɡuʃ.ˈtaɾ/ versus /deʒ.gaʃ.ˈtax/, /deʒ.gaʃ.ˈta/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "degustar" vs "desgastar" - which ranks higher?
"desgastar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,754 in our Portuguese list, against #49,911 for "degustar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "degustar" and "desgastar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "degustar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desgastar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #467 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "degustar" and "desgastar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "degustar vs devastar". 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 #467 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