delegarvsdesligarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#36,841
“delegar” frequency rank
#6,406
“desligar” frequency rank
43247
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature delegar desligar
Definition investir na faculdade de proceder em nome de outrem interromper um circuito elétrico

Where the eye mixes delegar and desligar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
delegar
8 ch
desligar

Visual trap between delegar and desligar

A purely visual mix-up. delegar (/dɨ.lɨ.ˈɡaɾ/) and desligar (/dɨʒ.li.ˈɡaɾ/) 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 43247, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

delegar is recorded at frequency rank #36,841, classified as averb, pronounced /dɨ.lɨ.ˈɡaɾ/. desligar is at rank #6,406, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɨʒ.li.ˈɡaɾ/.

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 43247, this pair ranks #22,414 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of delegar vs desligar

Shared letters: adeglr. Private to "delegar": -. Private to "desligar": is.

"delegar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "desligar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • delegarddelegar · deelgar · deleagr · delegarr · deleggar · delegra · delgear · dellegar
  • desligarddesligar · delsigar · desilgar · deslgiar · desliagr · desligarr · desliggar · desligra

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "delegar" and "desligar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/dɨ.lɨ.ˈɡaɾ/ versus /dɨʒ.li.ˈɡaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "delegar" vs "desligar" - which ranks higher?
"desligar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,406 in our Portuguese list, against #36,841 for "delegar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "delegar" and "desligar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "delegar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desligar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,414 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "delegar" and "desligar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delegar vs delirar". 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 #22,414 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