Which to use
“desde” is a preposition and “desta” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #155
- “desde” frequency rank
- #364
- “desta” frequency rank
- 519
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | desde | desta |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | a começar de; a partir de | contração da preposição de com o pronome ou determinante demonstrativo esta |
Where the eye mixes desde and desta
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: desde vs desta
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: desde is /ˈdeʒ.dɨ/ while desta is /ˈdɛʃ.tɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 519, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
desde is recorded at frequency rank #155, classified as aprep, pronounced /ˈdeʒ.dɨ/. desta is at rank #364, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /ˈdɛʃ.tɐ/.
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 519, this pair ranks #75,147 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of desde vs desta
Shared letters: des. Private to "desde": -. Private to "desta": at.
"desde" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "desta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "desde" and "desta" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "desde" or "desta" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "desde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "desta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #75,147 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "desde" and "desta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desatar vs desta". 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 #75,147 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.