dimevsdumaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“dime” and “duma” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,979
“dime” frequency rank
#39,714
“duma” frequency rank
42693
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dime duma
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de dimir. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de dumir.

Where the eye mixes dime and duma

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

4 ch
dime
4 ch
duma

Look-alike desk: dime vs duma

A purely visual mix-up. dime ([ˈd̪ime]) and duma ([ˈd̪uma]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42693, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dime is recorded at frequency rank #2,979, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪ime]. duma is at rank #39,714, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈd̪uma].

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 42693, this pair ranks #146,802 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dime vs duma

Shared letters: dm. Private to "dime": ei. Private to "duma": au.

"dime" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "duma" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dime ← ddime · diem · dimme · dmie · idme
  • duma ← dduma · dmua · duam · dumma · udma

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dime" for "duma" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈd̪ime] versus [ˈd̪uma]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "dime" vs "duma" - which ranks higher?
"dime" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,979 in our Spanish list, against #39,714 for "duma". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "dime" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "duma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #146,802 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dime" and "duma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Deva vs duma". 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 #146,802 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