Which to use
“desdém” is a noun and “deste” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,677
- “desdém” frequency rank
- #346
- “deste” frequency rank
- 30023
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | desdém | deste |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | desprezo com orgulho | contração da preposição de com o pronome ou determinante demonstrativo este: |
Letter map: desdém vs deste
Shared letters muted; letters that set desdém and deste apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. desdém runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against deste's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for desdém / deste
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: desdém is anoun and desteacontraction. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30023, 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/. deste is at rank #346, tagged as acontraction.
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 30023, this pair ranks #38,448 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of desdém vs deste
Shared letters: des. Private to "desdém": mé. Private to "deste": t.
"desdém" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "deste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- deste ← ddeste · deset · desste · destte · detse · dsete · edste
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "desdém" and "deste" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "desdém" or "deste" show up more?
After this comparison
You've compared "desdém" and "deste". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "desdém" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "deste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #38,448 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "desdém" and "deste" 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 #38,448 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.