Which to use
“dispensa” and “dispersão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,061
- “dispensa” frequency rank
- #12,871
- “dispersão” frequency rank
- 25932
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dispensa | dispersão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ato ou efeito de dispensar | ato ou efeito de dispersar |
Where the eye mixes dispensa and dispersão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. dispensa runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against dispersão's 9 (CVCCVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses dispensa with dispersão
A purely visual mix-up. dispensa (/diʃ.ˈpẽ.sɐ/) and dispersão (/diʃ.pɨɾ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25932, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dispensa is recorded at frequency rank #13,061, classified as anoun, pronounced /diʃ.ˈpẽ.sɐ/. dispersão is at rank #12,871, tagged as anoun, pronounced /diʃ.pɨɾ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.
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 25932, this pair ranks #43,290 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dispensa vs dispersão
Shared letters: deips. Private to "dispensa": an. Private to "dispersão": orã.
"dispensa" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "dispersão" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- dispensa ← ddispensa · dipsensa · disepnsa · dispenas · dispennsa · dispenssa · dispesna · dispnesa
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dispensa" for "dispersão" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dispensa" vs "dispersão" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "dispensa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dispersão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #43,290 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dispensa" and "dispersão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dispensa vs distensão". 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 #43,290 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.