Which to use
“delgado” and “delicado” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,167
- “delgado” frequency rank
- #10,343
- “delicado” frequency rank
- 20510
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | delgado | delicado |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | fino, magro | que usa de delicadeza |
Where the eye mixes delgado and delicado
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between delgado and delicado
A purely visual mix-up. delgado (/dɛɫ.ˈɡa.du/) and delicado (/dɨ.li.ˈka.du/) 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 20510, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
delgado is recorded at frequency rank #10,167, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɛɫ.ˈɡa.du/. delicado is at rank #10,343, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɨ.li.ˈka.du/.
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 20510, this pair ranks #49,992 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of delgado vs delicado
Shared letters: adelo. Private to "delgado": g. Private to "delicado": ci.
"delgado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "delicado" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "delgado" and "delicado" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "delgado" or "delicado" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "delgado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "delicado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,992 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "delgado" and "delicado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delicado vs duplicado". 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 #49,992 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.