delevsdesteConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#261
“dele” frequency rank
#346
“deste” frequency rank
607
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dele deste
Definition contração da preposição de com o pronome pessoal ele contração da preposição de com o pronome ou determinante demonstrativo este:

Letter map: dele vs deste

Shared letters muted; letters that set dele and deste apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
dele
5 ch
deste

Pair insight - dele / deste

dele and deste 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 607, 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/. deste is at rank #346, tagged as acontraction.

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 607, this pair ranks #75,065 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dele vs deste

Shared letters: de. Private to "dele": l. Private to "deste": st.

"dele" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "deste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deleddele · deel · delle · dlee · edle
  • desteddeste · deset · desste · destte · detse · dsete · edste

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dele" and "deste" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "dele" or "deste"?
"dele" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #261 in our Portuguese list, against #346 for "deste". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "dele" vs "deste" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dele" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "deste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,065 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dele" and "deste" 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 #75,065 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