descolarvsdesfilarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#31,325
“descolar” frequency rank
#17,482
“desfilar” frequency rank
48807
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature descolar desfilar
Definition despegar, desunir o que estava colado passar em filas

Where the eye mixes descolar and desfilar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. descolar and desfilar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
descolar
8 ch
desfilar

Look-alike desk: descolar vs desfilar

A purely visual mix-up. descolar (/dɨʃ.ku.ˈlaɾ/) and desfilar (/dɨʃ.fi.ˈlaɾ/) 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 48807, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

descolar is recorded at frequency rank #31,325, classified as averb, pronounced /dɨʃ.ku.ˈlaɾ/. desfilar is at rank #17,482, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɨʃ.fi.ˈlaɾ/.

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 48807, this pair ranks #16,334 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of descolar vs desfilar

Shared letters: adelrs. Private to "descolar": co. Private to "desfilar": fi.

"descolar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "desfilar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • descolar ← ddescolar · decsolar · desccolar · descloar · descoalr · descolarr · descollar · descolra
  • desfilar ← ddesfilar · defsilar · desffilar · desfialr · desfilarr · desfillar · desfilra · desfliar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "descolar" and "desfilar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/dɨʃ.ku.ˈlaɾ/ versus /dɨʃ.fi.ˈlaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "descolar" or "desfilar"?
"desfilar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,482 in our Portuguese list, against #31,325 for "descolar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "descolar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desfilar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,334 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "descolar" and "desfilar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "descolar 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 #16,334 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