Which to use
“dele” is a contraction and “die” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #261
- “dele” frequency rank
- #12,038
- “die” frequency rank
- 12299
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dele | die |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | contração da preposição de com o pronome pessoal ele | o, a, os, as, artigo definido: |
Where the eye mixes dele and die
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between dele and die
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dele is /ˈde.lɨ/ while die is /di/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (contraction vs article), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12299, 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/. die is at rank #12,038, tagged as anarticle, pronounced /di/.
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 12299, this pair ranks #60,358 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dele vs die
Shared letters: de. Private to "dele": l. Private to "die": i.
"dele" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "die" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dele ← ddele · deel · delle · dlee · edle
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dele" for "die" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "dele" or "die" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dele" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "die" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #60,358 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dele" and "die" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs die". 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 #60,358 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.