dadovsdidWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: dado is a noun, did is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dado” is a noun and “did” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#495
“dado” frequency rank
#22,663
“did” frequency rank
23158
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dado did
Definition Pequeño objeto con forma de cubo cuyas seis caras están marcadas con puntos que representan los números del uno al seis y que se usa en algunos juegos de azar. Por extensión, pieza poliédrica con las caras numeradas u otros símbolos. Pasado simple (irregular) del verbo (to) do.

Where the eye mixes dado and did

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
dado
3 ch
did

Why the eye confuses dado with did

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dado is [ˈd̪að̞o] while did is /dɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23158, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dado is recorded at frequency rank #495, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪að̞o]. did is at rank #22,663, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪd/.

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 23158, this pair ranks #247,113 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dado vs did

Shared letters: d. Private to "dado": ao. Private to "did": i.

"dado" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "did" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dadoaddo · daddo · daod · ddado · ddao

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dado" and "did" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dado" is a noun and "did" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "dado" or "did" show up more?
"dado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #495 in our Spanish list, against #22,663 for "did". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "dado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "did" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #247,113 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dado" and "did" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "did vs divo". 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 #247,113 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list