dessavsdesteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#375
“dessa” frequency rank
#346
“deste” frequency rank
721
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dessa deste
Definition contração da preposição de com o pronome ou determinante demonstrativo feminino essa: contração da preposição de com o pronome ou determinante demonstrativo este:

Letter map: dessa vs deste

Shared letters muted; letters that set dessa and deste apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. dessa and deste follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
dessa
5 ch
deste

Spelling & dictionary notes on dessa vs deste

dessa and deste are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 721, 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/. deste is at rank #346, tagged as acontraction.

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 721, this pair ranks #74,927 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dessa vs deste

Shared letters: des. Private to "dessa": a. Private to "deste": t.

"dessa" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "deste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dessa ← ddessa · desa · desas · dsesa · edssa
  • deste ← ddeste · deset · desste · destte · detse · dsete · edste

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dessa" and "deste" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "dessa" vs "deste" - which ranks higher?
"deste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #346 in our Portuguese list, against #375 for "dessa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "dessa" and "deste". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dessa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "deste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,927 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dessa" and "deste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deste vs destro". 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 #74,927 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