datovsduoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: dato is a adverb, duo is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dato” is an adverb and “duo” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,631
“dato” frequency rank
#5,822
“duo” frequency rank
16453
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dato duo
Definition am heutigen Tag zwei

Letter map: dato vs duo

Shared letters muted; letters that set dato and duo apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
dato
3 ch
duo

Grammar separator: dato vs duo

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dato is anadverb and duoanum. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16453, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dato is recorded at frequency rank #10,631, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈdaːto]. duo is at rank #5,822, tagged as anum, pronounced […].

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 16453, this pair ranks #1,935,730 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dato vs duo

Shared letters: do. Private to "dato": at. Private to "duo": u.

"dato" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "duo" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • datoadto · daot · datto · ddato · dtao

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dato" for "duo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dato" is an adverb and "duo" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "dato" or "duo" show up more?
"duo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,822 in our German list, against #10,631 for "dato". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "dato" and "duo".

  • Full dictionary entry for "dato" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "duo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,935,730 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dato" and "duo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dato vs Doro". 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 #1,935,730 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list