descaradovsdesmaiadoTell them apart

Which to use

“descarado” and “desmaiado” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#40,512
“descarado” frequency rank
#40,984
“desmaiado” frequency rank
81496
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature descarado desmaiado
Definition que não tem vergonha que desmaiou

Where the eye mixes descarado and desmaiado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. descarado (CVCCVCVCV) and desmaiado (CVCCVVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

9 ch
descarado
9 ch
desmaiado

Visual trap between descarado and desmaiado

A purely visual mix-up. descarado (/dɨʃ.kɐ.ˈɾa.du/) and desmaiado (/dɨʒ.maj.ˈa.du/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81496, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

descarado is recorded at frequency rank #40,512, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɨʃ.kɐ.ˈɾa.du/. desmaiado is at rank #40,984, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɨʒ.maj.ˈa.du/.

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 81496, this pair ranks #1,158 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of descarado vs desmaiado

Shared letters: adeos. Private to "descarado": cr. Private to "desmaiado": im.

"descarado" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV  ·  "desmaiado" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • descarado ← ddescarado · decsarado · desacrado · descaardo · descaraddo · descaraod · descardao · descarrado
  • desmaiado ← ddesmaiado · desamiado · desmaaido · desmaiaddo · desmaiaod · desmaidao · desmiaado · desmmaiado

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "descarado" and "desmaiado" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/dɨʃ.kɐ.ˈɾa.du/ versus /dɨʒ.maj.ˈa.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "descarado" or "desmaiado" show up more?
"descarado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,512 in our Portuguese list, against #40,984 for "desmaiado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "descarado" and "desmaiado" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "descarado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desmaiado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,158 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "descarado" and "desmaiado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "descansado vs descarado". 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 #1,158 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