Which to use
“delicado” and “desligado” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,343
- “delicado” frequency rank
- #12,649
- “desligado” frequency rank
- 22992
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | delicado | desligado |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | que usa de delicadeza | que se desligou |
Letter map: delicado vs desligado
Shared letters muted; letters that set delicado and desligado apart highlighted. Shared run: 7. delicado runs 8 letters (CVCVCVCV) against desligado's 9 (CVCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Spelling & dictionary notes on delicado vs desligado
delicado and desligado are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22992, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
delicado is recorded at frequency rank #10,343, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɨ.li.ˈka.du/. desligado is at rank #12,649, tagged as anadj.
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 22992, this pair ranks #46,918 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of delicado vs desligado
Shared letters: adeilo. Private to "delicado": c. Private to "desligado": gs.
"delicado" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV · "desligado" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "delicado" for "desligado" ever safe?
Frequency check: "delicado" vs "desligado" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've compared "delicado" and "desligado". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "delicado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "desligado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #46,918 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "delicado" and "desligado" 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 #46,918 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.