desirevsdesteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: desire is a noun, deste is a contraction, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

By · Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org ·

Which to use

“desire” is a noun and “deste” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,556
“desire” frequency rank
#346
“deste” frequency rank
32902
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature desire deste
Definition desejo contração da preposição de com o pronome ou determinante demonstrativo este:

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set desire and deste apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
desire
5 ch
deste

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: desire is anoun and desteacontraction. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32902, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

desire is recorded at frequency rank #32,556, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈzaɪə/. 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 32902, this pair ranks #34,755 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of desire vs deste

Shared letters: des. Private to "desire": ir. Private to "deste": t.

"desire" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "deste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • desire ← ddesire · deisre · desier · desirre · desrie · dessire · dseire · edsire
  • deste ← ddeste · deset · desste · destte · detse · dsete · edste

Frequency comparison

desire#32,556
deste#346

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "desire" and "deste" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "desire" is a noun and "deste" a contraction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "desire" or "deste"?
"deste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #346 in our Portuguese list, against #32,556 for "desire". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering desire vs deste

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list