descontarvsdesmontarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#22,272
“descontar” frequency rank
#22,607
“desmontar” frequency rank
44879
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature descontar desmontar
Definition fazer desconto fazer descer de uma cavalgadura

Where the eye mixes descontar and desmontar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. descontar and desmontar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
descontar
9 ch
desmontar

Why the eye confuses descontar with desmontar

A purely visual mix-up. descontar (/dɨʃ.kõ.ˈtaɾ/) and desmontar (/dɨʒ.mõ.ˈtaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - c in “descontar” becomes m in “desmontar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44879, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

descontar is recorded at frequency rank #22,272, classified as averb, pronounced /dɨʃ.kõ.ˈtaɾ/. desmontar is at rank #22,607, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɨʒ.mõ.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 44879, this pair ranks #20,553 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of descontar vs desmontar

Shared letters: adenorst. Private to "descontar": c. Private to "desmontar": m.

"descontar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "desmontar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • descontar ← ddescontar · decsontar · desccontar · descnotar · desconatr · desconntar · descontarr · descontra
  • desmontar ← ddesmontar · demsontar · desmmontar · desmnotar · desmonatr · desmonntar · desmontarr · desmontra

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "descontar" and "desmontar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/dɨʃ.kõ.ˈtaɾ/ versus /dɨʒ.mõ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "descontar" vs "desmontar" - which ranks higher?
"descontar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,272 in our Portuguese list, against #22,607 for "desmontar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "descontar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desmontar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,553 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "descontar" and "desmontar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desapontar vs desmontar". 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 #20,553 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