dicevsdiqueTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#152
“dice” frequency rank
#17,113
“dique” frequency rank
17265
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dice dique
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de decir. Valla hecha para contener el agua.

Where the eye mixes dice and dique

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
dice
5 ch
dique

Look-alike desk: dice vs dique

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dice is [ˈd̪ise] while dique is [ˈd̪ike]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17265, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dice is recorded at frequency rank #152, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪ise]. dique is at rank #17,113, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈd̪ike].

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 17265, this pair ranks #272,882 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dice vs dique

Shared letters: dei. Private to "dice": c. Private to "dique": qu.

"dice" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dique" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dicedcie · ddice · dicce · diec · dise · idce
  • diqueddique · diqeu · diqque · diuqe · dqiue · idque

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dice" and "dique" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dice" is a verb and "dique" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "dice" or "dique" show up more?
"dice" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #152 in our Spanish list, against #17,113 for "dique". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dice" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dique" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #272,882 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dice" and "dique" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "digne vs dique". 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 #272,882 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