Which to use
“dessa” and “desta” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #375
- “dessa” frequency rank
- #364
- “desta” frequency rank
- 739
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dessa | desta |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | contração da preposição de com o pronome ou determinante demonstrativo feminino essa: | contração da preposição de com o pronome ou determinante demonstrativo esta |
Where the eye mixes dessa and desta
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. dessa and desta follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: dessa vs desta
A purely visual mix-up. dessa (/ˈdɛ.sɐ/) and desta (/ˈdɛʃ.tɐ/) 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 - s in “dessa” becomes t in “desta”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 739, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dessa is recorded at frequency rank #375, classified as acontraction, pronounced /ˈdɛ.sɐ/. desta is at rank #364, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /ˈdɛʃ.tɐ/.
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 739, this pair ranks #74,914 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dessa vs desta
Shared letters: ades. Private to "dessa": -. Private to "desta": t.
"dessa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "desta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dessa" and "desta" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "dessa" or "desta"?
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 "dessa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "desta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #74,914 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dessa" and "desta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "desatar vs desta". 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 #74,914 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.