Which to use
“dever” is a noun and “deveria” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,068
- “dever” frequency rank
- #551
- “deveria” frequency rank
- 3619
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dever | deveria |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | obrigação | primeira pessoa do futuro do pretérito do indicativo de dever; |
Where the eye mixes dever and deveria
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. dever runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against deveria's 7 (CVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dever with deveria
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dever is /dɨ.ˈveɾ/ while deveria is [de.ve.ˈɾi.a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “dever” sits inside “deveria”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3619, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dever is recorded at frequency rank #3,068, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɨ.ˈveɾ/. deveria is at rank #551, tagged as averb, pronounced [de.ve.ˈɾi.a].
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 3619, this pair ranks #71,485 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dever vs deveria
Shared letters: derv. Private to "dever": -. Private to "deveria": ai.
"dever" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "deveria" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dever" for "deveria" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "dever" or "deveria" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "dever" and "deveria" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "dever" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "deveria" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #71,485 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dever" and "deveria" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dever vs devi". 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 #71,485 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.