despeitovsdesportoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,268
“despeito” frequency rank
#6,408
“desporto” frequency rank
19676
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature despeito desporto
Definition ressentimento produzido por desconsideração, desfeita, humilhação ou ofensa; pesar, melindre, amuo prática de atividade física com fins competitivos, entre indivíduos ou equipes, e sujeita a regras pré-estabelecidas

Where the eye mixes despeito and desporto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. despeito (CVCCVVCV) and desporto (CVCCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
despeito
8 ch
desporto

Look-alike desk: despeito vs desporto

A purely visual mix-up. despeito (/dɨʃ.ˈpɐj.tu/) and desporto (/dɨʃ.ˈpoɾ.tu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19676, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

despeito is recorded at frequency rank #13,268, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɨʃ.ˈpɐj.tu/. desporto is at rank #6,408, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɨʃ.ˈpoɾ.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 19676, this pair ranks #51,018 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of despeito vs desporto

Shared letters: deopst. Private to "despeito": i. Private to "desporto": r.

"despeito" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV  ·  "desporto" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • despeito ← ddespeito · depseito · desepito · despeiot · despeitto · despetio · despieto · desppeito
  • desporto ← ddesporto · depsorto · desoprto · desporot · desporrto · desportto · despotro · despporto

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "despeito" and "desporto" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/dɨʃ.ˈpɐj.tu/ versus /dɨʃ.ˈpoɾ.tu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "despeito" vs "desporto" - which ranks higher?
"desporto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,408 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.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "despeito" and "desporto" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "despeito" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "desporto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,018 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "despeito" and "desporto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "despeito vs desperto". 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 #51,018 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