delfinovsdestinoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#37,267
“delfino” frequency rank
#1,277
“destino” frequency rank
38544
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature delfino destino
Definition golfinho, delfim, delfino objetivo final; o ponto final de uma viagem

Where the eye mixes delfino and destino

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. delfino and destino follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
delfino
7 ch
destino

Visual trap between delfino and destino

A purely visual mix-up. delfino (/dɛl.ˈfi.nɔ/) and destino (/dɨʃ.ˈti.nu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38544, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

delfino is recorded at frequency rank #37,267, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɛl.ˈfi.nɔ/. destino is at rank #1,277, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɨʃ.ˈti.nu/.

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 38544, this pair ranks #27,881 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of delfino vs destino

Shared letters: deino. Private to "delfino": fl. Private to "destino": st.

"delfino" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "destino" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • delfino ← ddelfino · deflino · delffino · delfinno · delfion · delfnio · delifno · dellfino
  • destino ← ddestino · desitno · desstino · destinno · destion · destnio · desttino · detsino

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "delfino" and "destino" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/dɛl.ˈfi.nɔ/ versus /dɨʃ.ˈti.nu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "delfino" vs "destino" - which ranks higher?
"destino" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,277 in our Portuguese list, against #37,267 for "delfino". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "delfino" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "destino" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,881 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "delfino" and "destino" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "despido vs destino". 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 #27,881 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