demoravsdemosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,056
“demora” frequency rank
#8,749
“demos” frequency rank
12805
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature demora demos
Definition ato ou efeito de demorar forma plural de demo

Where the eye mixes demora and demos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. demora runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against demos's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
demora
5 ch
demos

Why the eye confuses demora with demos

A purely visual mix-up. demora (/dɨ.ˈmɔ.ɾɐ/) and demos (/ˈde.mʊs/) 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 12805, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

demora is recorded at frequency rank #4,056, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɨ.ˈmɔ.ɾɐ/. demos is at rank #8,749, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈde.mʊs/.

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 12805, this pair ranks #59,677 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of demora vs demos

Shared letters: demo. Private to "demora": ar. Private to "demos": s.

"demora" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "demos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • demora ← ddemora · demmora · demoar · demorra · demroa · deomra · dmeora · edmora
  • demos ← ddemos · demmos · demoss · demso · deoms · dmeos · edmos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "demora" and "demos" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/dɨ.ˈmɔ.ɾɐ/ versus /ˈde.mʊs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "demora" or "demos"?
"demora" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,056 in our Portuguese list, against #8,749 for "demos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "demora" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "demos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #59,677 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "demora" and "demos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "damo vs demos". 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 #59,677 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