dohvsdueWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#31,141
“doh” frequency rank
#442
“due” frequency rank
31583
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature doh due
Definition A syllable used in solfège to represent the first and eighth tonic of a major scale. Owed or owing.

Where the eye mixes doh and due

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
doh
3 ch
due

Why the eye confuses doh with due

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: doh is /doʊ/ while due is /djuː/. 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 31583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

doh is recorded at frequency rank #31,141, classified as anoun, pronounced /doʊ/. due is at rank #442, tagged as anadj, pronounced /djuː/.

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 31583, this pair ranks #344,907 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of doh vs due

Shared letters: d. Private to "doh": ho. Private to "due": eu.

"doh" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "due" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "doh" and "due" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "doh" is a noun and "due" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "doh" or "due" show up more?
"due" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #442 in our English list, against #31,141 for "doh". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "doh" and "due" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "doh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "due" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #344,907 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "doh" and "due" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "doh vs dox". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #344,907 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list