digvsdivWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: dig is a verb, div is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dig” is a verb and “div” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,991
“dig” frequency rank
#38,067
“div” frequency rank
74058
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dig div
Definition Cavar, escarbar. Dos.

Where the eye mixes dig and div

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. dig and div follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
dig
3 ch
div

Why the eye confuses dig with div

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dig is /dɪg/ while div is /ˈdiw/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - g in “dig” becomes v in “div”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74058, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dig is recorded at frequency rank #35,991, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪg/. div is at rank #38,067, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈdiw/.

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 74058, this pair ranks #22,036 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dig vs div

Shared letters: di. Private to "dig": g. Private to "div": v.

"dig" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "div" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dig" for "div" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dig" is a verb and "div" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dig" or "div"?
"dig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,991 in our Spanish list, against #38,067 for "div". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dig" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "div" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,036 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dig" and "div" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Deva vs div". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #22,036 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