despejo vs despesa, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#18,833
“despejo” frequency rank: #15,784
“despesa” frequency rank: 34617
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	despejo	despesa
Definition	ato ou efeito de despejar	ato ou efeito de despender

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set despejo and despesa apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

despejo

7 ch

despesa

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. despejo (/dɨʃ.ˈpɐj.ʒu/) and despesa (/dɨʃ.ˈpe.zɐ/) 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 34617, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

despejo is recorded at frequency rank #18,833, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɨʃ.ˈpɐj.ʒu/. despesa is at rank #15,784, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɨʃ.ˈpe.zɐ/.

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 34617, this pair ranks #32,596 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of despejo vs despesa

Shared letters: deps. Private to "despejo": jo. Private to "despesa": a.

"despejo" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "despesa" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

despejo ← ddespejo · depsejo · desepjo · despejjo · despeoj · despjeo · desppejo · desspejo
despesa ← ddespesa · depsesa · desepsa · despeas · despessa · desppesa · despsea · desspesa

Frequency comparison

despejo#18,833

despesa#15,784

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "despejo" and "despesa" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/dɨʃ.ˈpɐj.ʒu/ versus /dɨʃ.ˈpe.zɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "despejo" or "despesa"?

"despesa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,784 in our Portuguese list, against #18,833 for "despejo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering despejo vs despesa

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “despejo” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable