denotavsdestaTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#21,421
“denota” frequency rank
#364
“desta” frequency rank
21785
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature denota desta
Definition terceira pessoa do presente do indicativo do verbo denotar contração da preposição de com o pronome ou determinante demonstrativo esta

Letter map: denota vs desta

Shared letters muted; letters that set denota and desta apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. denota runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against desta's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
denota
5 ch
desta

Grammar separator: denota vs desta

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: denota is averb and destaacontraction. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21785, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

denota is recorded at frequency rank #21,421, classified as averb. desta is at rank #364, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /ˈdɛʃ.tɐ/.

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 21785, this pair ranks #48,397 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of denota vs desta

Shared letters: adet. Private to "denota": no. Private to "desta": s.

"denota" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "desta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • denota ← ddenota · dennota · denoat · denotta · dentoa · deonta · dneota · ednota
  • desta ← ddesta · desat · dessta · destta · detsa · dseta · edsta

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "denota" and "desta" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "denota" is a verb and "desta" a contraction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "denota" or "desta"?
"desta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #364 in our Portuguese list, against #21,421 for "denota". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "denota" and "desta". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "denota" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #48,397 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "denota" and "desta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desatar vs desta". 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 #48,397 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