derrotadovsderrotarTell them apart

Quick tell: derrotado is a adjective, derrotar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#8,457
“derrotado” frequency rank
#7,137
“derrotar” frequency rank
15594
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature derrotado derrotar
Definition que foi vencido em uma disputa; sobrepujado vencer os adversários numa competição

Letter map: derrotado vs derrotar

Shared letters muted; letters that set derrotado and derrotar apart highlighted. Shared run: 7. derrotado runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVCV) against derrotar's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
derrotado
8 ch
derrotar

Role in the sentence - derrotado and derrotar

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: derrotado is anadjective and derrotaraverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15594, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

derrotado is recorded at frequency rank #8,457, classified as anadj. derrotar is at rank #7,137, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɨ.Ru.ˈtaɾ/.

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 15594, this pair ranks #56,182 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of derrotado vs derrotar

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

"derrotado" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV  ·  "derrotar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • derrotado ← dderrotado · derortado · derotado · derroatdo · derrotaddo · derrotaod · derrotdao · derrottado
  • derrotar ← dderrotar · derortar · derotar · derroatr · derrotarr · derrotra · derrottar · derrtoar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "derrotado" for "derrotar" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "derrotado" is an adjective and "derrotar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "derrotado" vs "derrotar" - which ranks higher?
"derrotar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,137 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.

What to do next

Pair "derrotado" vs "derrotar" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "derrotado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "derrotar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,182 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "derrotado" and "derrotar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "defrontar vs derrotar". 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 #56,182 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