delvsduaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: del is a contraction, dua is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,706
“del” frequency rank
#39,112
“dua” frequency rank
40818
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature del dua
Definition do, da, contração da preposição de com o artigo definido singular el: querer

Letter map: del vs dua

Shared letters muted; letters that set del and dua apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
del
3 ch
dua

Grammar separator: del vs dua

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: del is acontraction and duaaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40818, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

del is recorded at frequency rank #1,706, classified as acontraction. dua is at rank #39,112, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈdwa/.

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 40818, this pair ranks #25,222 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of del vs dua

Shared letters: d. Private to "del": el. Private to "dua": au.

"del" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "dua" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "del" and "dua" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "del" is a contraction and "dua" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "del" vs "dua" - which ranks higher?
"del" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,706 in our Portuguese list, against #39,112 for "dua". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pair "del" vs "dua" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "del" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dua" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,222 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "del" and "dua" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs dua". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #25,222 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