Which to use
“dela” is a contraction and “doca” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #295
- “dela” frequency rank
- #23,985
- “doca” frequency rank
- 24280
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dela | doca |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | contração da preposição de e do pronome ela | parte abrigada de um porto, dispondo de cais acostável, onde se podem recolher embarcações para fugir do mau tempo ou para carregar e descarregar mercadorias |
Where the eye mixes dela and doca
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: dela vs doca
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dela is /ˈde.lɐ/ while doca is /ˈdɔ.kɐ/. 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 (contraction vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24280, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dela is recorded at frequency rank #295, classified as acontraction, pronounced /ˈde.lɐ/. doca is at rank #23,985, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɔ.kɐ/.
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 24280, this pair ranks #45,379 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dela vs doca
Shared letters: ad. Private to "dela": el. Private to "doca": co.
"dela" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "doca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dela" for "doca" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dela" vs "doca" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dela" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "doca" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,379 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dela" and "doca" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "doca vs doula". 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 #45,379 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.