descer vs desse, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“descer” is a verb and “desse” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,630
“descer” frequency rank: #391
“desse” frequency rank: 5021
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	descer	desse
Definition	ir ou passar de um lugar mais alto para um lugar mais baixo	contração da preposição de com o pronome ou determinante demonstrativo esse:

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set descer and desse apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

descer

5 ch

desse

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: descer is /dɨʃ.ˈseɾ/ while desse is /ˈde.sɨ/. 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 contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5021, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

descer is recorded at frequency rank #4,630, classified as averb, pronounced /dɨʃ.ˈseɾ/. desse is at rank #391, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /ˈde.sɨ/.

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 5021, this pair ranks #69,703 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of descer vs desse

Shared letters: des. Private to "descer": cr. Private to "desse": -.

"descer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "desse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

descer ← ddescer · decser · desccer · descerr · descre · desecr · desscer · dsecer
desse ← ddesse · dese · deses · dsese · edsse

Frequency comparison

descer#4,630

desse#391

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "descer" and "desse" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "descer" is a verb and "desse" a contraction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "descer" or "desse"?

"desse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #391 in our Portuguese list, against #4,630 for "descer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering descer vs desse

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “descer”; for a contraction, it's “desse”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “descer” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable