Which to use
“desolação” and “devolução” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,962
- “desolação” frequency rank
- #15,785
- “devolução” frequency rank
- 51747
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | desolação | devolução |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o ato ou efeito de desolar | o ato ou efeito de devolver |
Letter map: desolação vs devolução
Shared letters muted; letters that set desolação and devolução apart highlighted. Shared run: 7. desolação and devolução follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Pair insight - desolação / devolução
desolação and devolução are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51747, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
desolação is recorded at frequency rank #35,962, classified as anoun. devolução is at rank #15,785, tagged as anoun.
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 51747, this pair ranks #13,352 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of desolação vs devolução
Shared letters: deloãç. Private to "desolação": as. Private to "devolução": uv.
"desolação" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVV · "devolução" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "desolação" for "devolução" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "desolação" or "devolução" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pair "desolação" vs "devolução" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "desolação" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "devolução" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #13,352 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "desolação" and "devolução" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desolação vs destilação". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #13,352 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.