destevsdisseWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: deste is a contraction, disse is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“deste” is a contraction and “disse” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#346
“deste” frequency rank
#176
“disse” frequency rank
522
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deste disse
Definition contração da preposição de com o pronome ou determinante demonstrativo este: primeira pessoa do singular do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo dizer

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set deste and disse apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
deste
5 ch
disse

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: deste is acontraction and disseaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 522, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deste is recorded at frequency rank #346, classified as acontraction. disse is at rank #176, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈʤi.se].

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 522, this pair ranks #75,144 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of deste vs disse

Shared letters: des. Private to "deste": t. Private to "disse": i.

"deste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "disse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • desteddeste · deset · desste · destte · detse · dsete · edste
  • disseddisse · dise · dises · dsise · idsse

Frequency comparison

deste#346
disse#176

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deste" and "disse" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deste" is a contraction and "disse" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "deste" or "disse"?
"disse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #176 in our Portuguese list, against #346 for "deste". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering deste vs disse

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a contraction, it's “deste”; for a verb, it's “disse”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “deste” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list