descartarvsdescontarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#16,729
“descartar” frequency rank
#22,272
“descontar” frequency rank
39001
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature descartar descontar
Definition rejeitar uma carta num jogo fazer desconto

Where the eye mixes descartar and descontar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. descartar and descontar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
descartar
9 ch
descontar

Visual trap between descartar and descontar

A purely visual mix-up. descartar (/deʃ.kaχ.ˈtaχ/) and descontar (/dɨʃ.kõ.ˈtaɾ/) 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 39001, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

descartar is recorded at frequency rank #16,729, classified as averb, pronounced /deʃ.kaχ.ˈtaχ/. descontar is at rank #22,272, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɨʃ.kõ.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 39001, this pair ranks #27,363 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of descartar vs descontar

Shared letters: acderst. Private to "descartar": -. Private to "descontar": no.

"descartar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "descontar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • descartar ← ddescartar · decsartar · desacrtar · descaratr · descarrtar · descartarr · descartra · descarttar
  • descontar ← ddescontar · decsontar · desccontar · descnotar · desconatr · desconntar · descontarr · descontra

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "descartar" for "descontar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/deʃ.kaχ.ˈtaχ/ versus /dɨʃ.kõ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "descartar" vs "descontar" - which ranks higher?
"descartar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,729 in our Portuguese list, against #22,272 for "descontar". 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 "descartar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "descontar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,363 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "descartar" and "descontar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desapontar vs descontar". 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 #27,363 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