descargavsdescartarWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: descarga is a noun, descartar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“descarga” is a noun and “descartar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,034
“descarga” frequency rank
#16,729
“descartar” frequency rank
28763
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature descarga descartar
Definition tiro de arma de fogo rejeitar uma carta num jogo

Where the eye mixes descarga and descartar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. descarga runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against descartar's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
descarga
9 ch
descartar

Look-alike desk: descarga vs descartar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: descarga is /dɨʃ.ˈkaɾ.ɡɐ/ while descartar is /deʃ.kaχ.ˈtaχ/. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28763, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

descarga is recorded at frequency rank #12,034, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɨʃ.ˈkaɾ.ɡɐ/. descartar is at rank #16,729, tagged as averb, pronounced /deʃ.kaχ.ˈtaχ/.

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 28763, this pair ranks #40,023 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of descarga vs descartar

Shared letters: acders. Private to "descarga": g. Private to "descartar": t.

"descarga" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "descartar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • descarga ← ddescarga · decsarga · desacrga · descagra · descarag · descargga · descarrga · desccarga
  • descartar ← ddescartar · decsartar · desacrtar · descaratr · descarrtar · descartarr · descartra · descarttar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "descarga" for "descartar" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "descarga" is a noun and "descartar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "descarga" vs "descartar" - which ranks higher?
"descarga" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,034 in our Portuguese list, against #16,729 for "descartar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "descarga" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "descartar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #40,023 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "descarga" and "descartar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desatar vs descartar". 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 #40,023 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