devastadorvsdevastarTell them apart

Quick tell: devastador is a adjective, devastar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“devastador” is an adjective and “devastar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,853
“devastador” frequency rank
#47,300
“devastar” frequency rank
68153
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature devastador devastar
Definition que devasta arruinar, assolar

Letter map: devastador vs devastar

Shared letters muted; letters that set devastador and devastar apart highlighted. Shared run: 8.

10 ch
devastador
8 ch
devastar

Grammar separator: devastador vs devastar

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: devastador is anadjective and devastaraverb. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68153, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

devastador is recorded at frequency rank #20,853, classified as anadj. devastar is at rank #47,300, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɨ.vɐʃ.ˈtaɾ/.

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 68153, this pair ranks #4,382 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of devastador vs devastar

Shared letters: aderstv. Private to "devastador": o. Private to "devastar": -.

"devastador" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVC  ·  "devastar" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • devastadorddevastador · deavstador · devasatdor · devasstador · devastaddor · devastadorr · devastadro · devastaodr
  • devastarddevastar · deavstar · devasatr · devasstar · devastarr · devastra · devasttar · devatsar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "devastador" and "devastar" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "devastador" is an adjective and "devastar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "devastador" or "devastar"?
"devastador" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,853 in our Portuguese list, against #47,300 for "devastar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "devastador" and "devastar".

  • Full dictionary entry for "devastador" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "devastar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,382 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "devastador" and "devastar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "degustar vs devastar". 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 #4,382 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