Which to use
“desdém” is a noun and “desse” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,677
- “desdém” frequency rank
- #391
- “desse” frequency rank
- 30068
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | desdém | desse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | desprezo com orgulho | contração da preposição de com o pronome ou determinante demonstrativo esse: |
Where the eye mixes desdém and desse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. desdém runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against desse's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: desdém vs desse
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: desdém is /dɨʒ.ˈdɐ̃j̃/ 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 (noun vs contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30068, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
desdém is recorded at frequency rank #29,677, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɨʒ.ˈdɐ̃j̃/. 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 30068, this pair ranks #38,384 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of desdém vs desse
Shared letters: des. Private to "desdém": mé. Private to "desse": -.
"desdém" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "desse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- desse ← ddesse · dese · deses · dsese · edsse
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "desdém" for "desse" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "desdém" or "desse" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "desdém" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "desse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #38,384 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "desdém" and "desse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desdém vs desordem". 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 #38,384 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.