Which to use
“direção” is a noun and “direito” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #954
- “direção” frequency rank
- #262
- “direito” frequency rank
- 1216
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | direção | direito |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ato ou efeito de dirigir veículo automotor | que segue ou se estende em linha reta |
Where the eye mixes direção and direito
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. direção (CVCVCVV) and direito (CVCVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses direção with direito
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: direção is /di.ɾɛ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ while direito is /di.ˈɾɐj.tu/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1216, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
direção is recorded at frequency rank #954, classified as anoun, pronounced /di.ɾɛ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. direito is at rank #262, tagged as anadj, pronounced /di.ˈɾɐj.tu/.
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 1216, this pair ranks #74,376 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of direção vs direito
Shared letters: deior. Private to "direção": ãç. Private to "direito": t.
"direção" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "direito" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- direito ← ddireito · dierito · direiot · direitto · diretio · dirieto · dirreito · drieito
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "direção" for "direito" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "direção" or "direito" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "direção" and "direito" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "direção" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "direito" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #74,376 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "direção" and "direito" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dicção vs direção". 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 #74,376 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.