despedidovsdespidoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“despedido” and “despido” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#19,680
“despedido” frequency rank
#47,293
“despido” frequency rank
66973
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature despedido despido
Definition que se despediu nu; desnudo

Where the eye mixes despedido and despido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. despedido runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVCV) against despido's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
despedido
7 ch
despido

Visual trap between despedido and despido

A purely visual mix-up. despedido (/dɨʃ.pɨ.ˈdi.du/) and despido (/dɨʃ.ˈpi.du/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66973, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

despedido is recorded at frequency rank #19,680, classified as anadj, pronounced /dɨʃ.pɨ.ˈdi.du/. despido is at rank #47,293, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɨʃ.ˈpi.du/.

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 66973, this pair ranks #4,788 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of despedido vs despido

Shared letters: deiops. Private to "despedido": -. Private to "despido": -.

"despedido" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV  ·  "despido" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • despedido ← ddespedido · depsedido · desepdido · despdeido · despeddido · despeddio · despediddo · despediod
  • despido ← ddespido · depsido · desipdo · despdio · despiddo · despiod · desppido · desspido

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "despedido" and "despido" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/dɨʃ.pɨ.ˈdi.du/ versus /dɨʃ.ˈpi.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "despedido" vs "despido" - which ranks higher?
"despedido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,680 in our Portuguese list, against #47,293 for "despido". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "despedido" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "despido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,788 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "despedido" and "despido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "descuido vs despido". 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 #4,788 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list