deserto vs despeito, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“deserto” is an adjective and “despeito” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,978
“deserto” frequency rank: #13,268
“despeito” frequency rank: 17246
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	deserto	despeito
Definition	desabitado, despovoado, solitário	ressentimento produzido por desconsideração, desfeita, humilhação ou ofensa; pesar, melindre, amuo

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set deserto and despeito apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

deserto

8 ch

despeito

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deserto is /dɨ.ˈzɛɾ.tu/ while despeito is /dɨʃ.ˈpɐj.tu/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17246, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deserto is recorded at frequency rank #3,978, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɨ.ˈzɛɾ.tu/. despeito is at rank #13,268, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɨʃ.ˈpɐj.tu/.

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 17246, this pair ranks #54,052 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of deserto vs despeito

Shared letters: deost. Private to "deserto": r. Private to "despeito": ip.

"deserto" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "despeito" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

deserto ← ddeserto · deesrto · deserot · deserrto · desertto · desetro · desreto · desserto
despeito ← ddespeito · depseito · desepito · despeiot · despeitto · despetio · despieto · desppeito

Frequency comparison

deserto#3,978

despeito#13,268

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deserto" and "despeito" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deserto" is an adjective and "despeito" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "deserto" or "despeito"?

"deserto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,978 in our Portuguese list, against #13,268 for "despeito". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering deserto vs despeito

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “deserto”; for a noun, it's “despeito”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “deserto” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable