duelovsduploConfusable pair

Quick tell: duelo is a noun, duplo is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“duelo” is a noun and “duplo” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,522
“duelo” frequency rank
#4,388
“duplo” frequency rank
11910
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature duelo duplo
Definition combate entre duas pessoas, normalmente usando espadas ou pistolas, e na maioria das vezes por questões de honra que tem duplicidade; ambíguo

Letter map: duelo vs duplo

Shared letters muted; letters that set duelo and duplo apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. duelo (CVVCV) and duplo (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
duelo
5 ch
duplo

Role in the sentence - duelo and duplo

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: duelo is anoun and duploanadjective. On the page they differ by a single letter - e in “duelo” becomes p in “duplo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11910, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

duelo is recorded at frequency rank #7,522, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdwɛ.lu/. duplo is at rank #4,388, tagged as anadj.

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 11910, this pair ranks #60,830 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of duelo vs duplo

Shared letters: dlou. Private to "duelo": e. Private to "duplo": p.

"duelo" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "duplo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • duelo ← dduelo · deulo · duello · dueol · duleo · udelo
  • duplo ← dduplo · dpulo · dulpo · dupllo · dupol · dupplo · udplo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "duelo" for "duplo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "duelo" is a noun and "duplo" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "duelo" vs "duplo" - which ranks higher?
"duplo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,388 in our Portuguese list, against #7,522 for "duelo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "duelo" and "duplo". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "duelo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "duplo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,830 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "duelo" and "duplo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dreno vs duelo". 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 #60,830 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