derrotavsderrotadoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: derrota is a noun, derrotado is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“derrota” is a noun and “derrotado” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,830
“derrota” frequency rank
#8,457
“derrotado” frequency rank
11287
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature derrota derrotado
Definition destroço, desbarato de tropas; revés que foi vencido em uma disputa; sobrepujado

Letter map: derrota vs derrotado

Shared letters muted; letters that set derrota and derrotado apart highlighted. Shared run: 7. derrota runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against derrotado's 9 (CVCCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
derrota
9 ch
derrotado

Role in the sentence - derrota and derrotado

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: derrota is anoun and derrotadoanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “derrota” sits inside “derrotado”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11287, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

derrota is recorded at frequency rank #2,830, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɨ.ˈRɔ.tɐ/. derrotado is at rank #8,457, 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 11287, this pair ranks #61,598 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of derrota vs derrotado

Shared letters: adeort. Private to "derrota": -. Private to "derrotado": -.

"derrota" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "derrotado" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • derrota ← dderrota · derorta · derota · derroat · derrotta · derrtoa · drerota · edrrota
  • derrotado ← dderrotado · derortado · derotado · derroatdo · derrotaddo · derrotaod · derrotdao · derrottado

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "derrota" and "derrotado" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "derrota" is a noun and "derrotado" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "derrota" vs "derrotado" - which ranks higher?
"derrota" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,830 in our Portuguese list, against #8,457 for "derrotado". 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 "derrota" and "derrotado".

  • Full dictionary entry for "derrota" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "derrotado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,598 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "derrota" and "derrotado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "denota vs derrota". 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 #61,598 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