Which to use
“desafiar” is a verb and “desafio” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,168
- “desafiar” frequency rank
- #1,640
- “desafio” frequency rank
- 11808
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | desafiar | desafio |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | propor um desafio | ação de desafiar; proposta que envolve fazer algo difícil, ou ousado, podendo ser em forma de disputa entre duas ou mais pessoas, e podendo haver recompensa material ou imaterial para o vencedor, e punição para o perdedor |
Where the eye mixes desafiar and desafio
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: desafiar vs desafio
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: desafiar is /dɨ.zɐ.ˈfjaɾ/ while desafio is /dɨ.zɐ.ˈfi.u/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11808, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
desafiar is recorded at frequency rank #10,168, classified as averb, pronounced /dɨ.zɐ.ˈfjaɾ/. desafio is at rank #1,640, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɨ.zɐ.ˈfi.u/.
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 11808, this pair ranks #60,957 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of desafiar vs desafio
Shared letters: adefis. Private to "desafiar": r. Private to "desafio": o.
"desafiar" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC · "desafio" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "desafiar" for "desafio" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "desafiar" or "desafio" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "desafiar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "desafio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #60,957 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "desafiar" and "desafio" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desafiar vs desatar". 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 #60,957 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.