Which to use
“dele” and “desse” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #261
- “dele” frequency rank
- #391
- “desse” frequency rank
- 652
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dele | desse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | contração da preposição de com o pronome pessoal ele | contração da preposição de com o pronome ou determinante demonstrativo esse: |
Where the eye mixes dele and desse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dele runs 4 letters (CVCV) against desse's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between dele and desse
A purely visual mix-up. dele (/ˈde.lɨ/) and desse (/ˈde.sɨ/) 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 652, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dele is recorded at frequency rank #261, classified as acontraction, pronounced /ˈde.lɨ/. desse is at rank #391, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /ˈde.sɨ/.
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 652, this pair ranks #75,015 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dele vs desse
Shared letters: de. Private to "dele": l. Private to "desse": s.
"dele" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "desse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dele" and "desse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "dele" vs "desse" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dele" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "desse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #75,015 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dele" and "desse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dele vs devi". 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 #75,015 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.