delirarvsdeslizarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#37,744
“delirar” frequency rank
#26,342
“deslizar” frequency rank
64086
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature delirar deslizar
Definition estar em delírio escorregar suavemente, resvalar, afastar-se lentamente:

Where the eye mixes delirar and deslizar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. delirar runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against deslizar's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
delirar
8 ch
deslizar

Why the eye confuses delirar with deslizar

A purely visual mix-up. delirar (/dɨ.li.ˈɾaɾ/) and deslizar (/dɨʒ.li.ˈzaɾ/) 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 64086, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

delirar is recorded at frequency rank #37,744, classified as averb, pronounced /dɨ.li.ˈɾaɾ/. deslizar is at rank #26,342, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɨʒ.li.ˈzaɾ/.

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 64086, this pair ranks #5,921 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of delirar vs deslizar

Shared letters: adeilr. Private to "delirar": -. Private to "deslizar": sz.

"delirar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "deslizar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • delirar ← ddelirar · deilrar · deliarr · delirarr · delirra · delirrar · dellirar · delriar
  • deslizar ← ddeslizar · delsizar · desilzar · desliazr · deslizarr · deslizra · deslizzar · desllizar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "delirar" and "deslizar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/dɨ.li.ˈɾaɾ/ versus /dɨʒ.li.ˈzaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "delirar" or "deslizar" show up more?
"deslizar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,342 in our Portuguese list, against #37,744 for "delirar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "delirar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "deslizar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #5,921 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "delirar" and "deslizar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "declinar 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 #5,921 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