deusvsdezTell them apart

Quick tell: deus is a noun, dez is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“deus” is a noun and “dez” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#128
“deus” frequency rank
#771
“dez” frequency rank
899
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature deus dez
Definition numa religião, ser sobrenatural de poderes sobre-humanos dotado de bons atributos

Where the eye mixes deus and dez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
deus
3 ch
dez

Visual trap between deus and dez

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deus is /ˈdews/ while dez is /ˈdɛʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 899, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

deus is recorded at frequency rank #128, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdews/. dez is at rank #771, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈdɛʃ/.

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 899, this pair ranks #74,728 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of deus vs dez

Shared letters: de. Private to "deus": su. Private to "dez": z.

"deus" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "dez" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deusddeus · desu · deuss · dues · edus

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "deus" and "dez" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "deus" is a noun and "dez" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "deus" vs "dez" - which ranks higher?
"deus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #128 in our Portuguese list, against #771 for "dez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "deus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,728 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "deus" and "dez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs dez". 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 #74,728 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