Which to use
“despensa” and “dispensa” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,290
- “despensa” frequency rank
- #13,061
- “dispensa” frequency rank
- 37351
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | despensa | dispensa |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | repartimento do imóvel onde se guardam mantimentos; copa | ato ou efeito de dispensar |
Where the eye mixes despensa and dispensa
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. despensa and dispensa follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses despensa with dispensa
A purely visual mix-up. despensa (/dɨʃ.ˈpẽ.sɐ/) and dispensa (/diʃ.ˈpẽ.sɐ/) 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 a single letter - e in “despensa” becomes i in “dispensa”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37351, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
despensa is recorded at frequency rank #24,290, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɨʃ.ˈpẽ.sɐ/. dispensa is at rank #13,061, tagged as anoun, pronounced /diʃ.ˈpẽ.sɐ/.
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 37351, this pair ranks #29,280 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of despensa vs dispensa
Shared letters: adenps. Private to "despensa": -. Private to "dispensa": i.
"despensa" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "dispensa" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "despensa" and "dispensa" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "despensa" or "dispensa" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "despensa" and "dispensa" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "despensa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dispensa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #29,280 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "despensa" and "dispensa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dispensa vs distensão". 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 #29,280 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.