delevsdizeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#261
“dele” frequency rank
#34,674
“dize” frequency rank
34935
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dele dize
Definition contração da preposição de com o pronome pessoal ele segunda pessoa do singular do imperativo do verbo dizer

Letter map: dele vs dize

Shared letters muted; letters that set dele and dize apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
dele
4 ch
dize

Grammar separator: dele vs dize

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dele is acontraction and dizeaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34935, 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/. dize is at rank #34,674, tagged as averb.

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 34935, this pair ranks #32,214 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dele vs dize

Shared letters: de. Private to "dele": l. Private to "dize": iz.

"dele" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dize" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deleddele · deel · delle · dlee · edle
  • dizeddize · dizze · dzie · idze

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dele" for "dize" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dele" is a contraction and "dize" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "dele" vs "dize" - which ranks higher?
"dele" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #261 in our Portuguese list, against #34,674 for "dize". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pair "dele" vs "dize" 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 "dize" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,214 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dele" and "dize" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dink vs dize". 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 #32,214 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