demoravsdenotaTell them apart

Quick tell: demora is a noun, denota is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“demora” is a noun and “denota” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,056
“demora” frequency rank
#21,421
“denota” frequency rank
25477
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature demora denota
Definition ato ou efeito de demorar terceira pessoa do presente do indicativo do verbo denotar

Letter map: demora vs denota

Shared letters muted; letters that set demora and denota apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. demora and denota follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
demora
6 ch
denota

Role in the sentence - demora and denota

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: demora is anoun and denotaaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25477, 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/. denota is at rank #21,421, tagged as averb.

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 25477, this pair ranks #43,821 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of demora vs denota

Shared letters: adeo. Private to "demora": mr. Private to "denota": nt.

"demora" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "denota" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • demora ← ddemora · demmora · demoar · demorra · demroa · deomra · dmeora · edmora
  • denota ← ddenota · dennota · denoat · denotta · dentoa · deonta · dneota · ednota

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "demora" for "denota" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "demora" is a noun and "denota" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "demora" vs "denota" - which ranks higher?
"demora" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,056 in our Portuguese list, against #21,421 for "denota". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "demora" and "denota".

  • Full dictionary entry for "demora" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "denota" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,821 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "demora" and "denota" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decote vs denota". 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 #43,821 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