duvsdumaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: du is a pronoun, duma is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“du” is a pronoun and “duma” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,609
“du” frequency rank
#39,714
“duma” frequency rank
45323
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature du duma
Definition Tú (pronombre de segunda persona singular familiar o informal) Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de dumir.

Where the eye mixes du and duma

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

2 ch
du
4 ch
duma

Look-alike desk: du vs duma

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: du is [duː] while duma is [ˈd̪uma]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “du” sits inside “duma”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45323, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

du is recorded at frequency rank #5,609, classified as apron, pronounced [duː]. 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 45323, this pair ranks #132,074 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of du vs duma

Shared letters: du. Private to "du": -. Private to "duma": am.

"du" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "duma" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dumadduma · dmua · duam · dumma · udma

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "du" and "duma" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "du" is a pronoun and "duma" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "du" or "duma"?
"du" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,609 in our Spanish list, against #39,714 for "duma". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "du" 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 #132,074 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "du" 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 #132,074 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