devagarvsdevorarTell them apart

Quick tell: devagar is a adverb, devorar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“devagar” is an adverb and “devorar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,520
“devagar” frequency rank
#28,166
“devorar” frequency rank
33686
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature devagar devorar
Definition em baixa velocidade destruir

Where the eye mixes devagar and devorar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
devagar
7 ch
devorar

Look-alike desk: devagar vs devorar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: devagar is /de.va.ˈgaɹ/ while devorar is /dɨ.vu.ˈɾaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33686, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

devagar is recorded at frequency rank #5,520, classified as anadv, pronounced /de.va.ˈgaɹ/. devorar is at rank #28,166, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɨ.vu.ˈɾaɾ/.

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 33686, this pair ranks #33,750 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of devagar vs devorar

Shared letters: aderv. Private to "devagar": g. Private to "devorar": o.

"devagar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "devorar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devagarddevagar · deavgar · devaagr · devagarr · devaggar · devagra · devgaar · devvagar
  • devorarddevorar · deovrar · devoarr · devorarr · devorra · devorrar · devroar · devvorar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "devagar" and "devorar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "devagar" is an adverb and "devorar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "devagar" or "devorar"?
"devagar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,520 in our Portuguese list, against #28,166 for "devorar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "devagar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devorar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #33,750 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "devagar" and "devorar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delirar vs devorar". 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 #33,750 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