dictevsdoceTell them apart

Quick tell: dicte is a verb, doce is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dicte” is a verb and “doce” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,871
“dicte” frequency rank
#2,825
“doce” frequency rank
33696
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dicte doce
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de dictar. Once y uno.

Where the eye mixes dicte and doce

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

5 ch
dicte
4 ch
doce

Why the eye confuses dicte with doce

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dicte is [ˈd̪ikt̪e] while doce is [ˈd̪ose]. 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 num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33696, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dicte is recorded at frequency rank #30,871, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪ikt̪e]. doce is at rank #2,825, tagged as anum, pronounced [ˈd̪ose].

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 33696, this pair ranks #195,394 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dicte vs doce

Shared letters: cde. Private to "dicte": it. Private to "doce": o.

"dicte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "doce" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dictedcite · ddicte · diccte · dicet · dictte · ditce · idcte
  • docedcoe · ddoce · docce · doec · dose · odce

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dicte" for "doce" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dicte" is a verb and "doce" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dicte" or "doce"?
"doce" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,825 in our Spanish list, against #30,871 for "dicte". 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 "dicte" and "doce" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dicte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "doce" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #195,394 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dicte" and "doce" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decae vs dicte". 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 #195,394 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