desdém vs desse, What's the Difference?

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set desdém and desse apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

desdém

5 ch

desse

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

Frequency comparison

desdém#29,677

desse#391

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"desse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #391 in our Portuguese list, against #29,677 for "desdém". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering desdém vs desse

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “desdém”; for a contraction, it's “desse”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “desdém” entry
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