don

/dɒn/ ouvir ^(fonte ?)

//dɒn/ ouvir ^(fonte ?)/ noun

The verdict

“don” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #4,306) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#4,306
frequency rank, Portuguese
1,193
“D” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - professor universitário (especialmente da Universidade de Oxford ou de Cambridge)

Corpus desk

Index PT-don · don · Portuguese

don · rank #4,306 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,306
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,193
  • PHOTO-FINISH derrubar

Nearest frequency peer: derrubar (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Vizinhos de frequência do confusável “don”

Pares de peso semelhante no corpus, aparte dos confusáveis abaixo

corpus weight

What this shows As barras situam “don” face aos lemas portugueses mais próximos por rank, não um reprint da secretária de confusáveis.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

don vs du
33% similar
don vs dos
67% similar
don vs dor
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for don
PropertyValue
Headworddon
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechNoun
IPA/dɒn/ ouvir ^(fonte ?)
Letters3
Frequency rank#4,306
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rank de corpus junto a confusáveis de “don”

Esta escala corre do núcleo do português quotidiano (esquerda) até o rastro de formas raras (direita).doncai aqui:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

A escala é logarítmica (cada marca ≈ 10× mais rara). Na mesma faixa de raridade aparecem “derrubar” (#4,305), “daquilo” (#4,304), “curiosidade” (#4,302). Entre 1,193 lemas com “D”, “don” fica em #4,306. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for don is neighbouring look-alikes ("du", "dos", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /dɒn/ ouvir ^(fonte ?). Frequency #4,306 among 1,193 “D” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No misspelling variants are generated for don in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "du", "dos", "dor", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct Portuguese form is don, spelled D-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    professor universitário (especialmente da Universidade de Oxford ou de Cambridge)
  2. 2
    chefe da máfia italiana

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "don"?
"don" is spelled D-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is /dɒn/ ouvir ^(fonte ?).
What does "don" mean?
As a noun, "don" means: professor universitário (especialmente da Universidade de Oxford ou de Cambridge)
What words are commonly confused with "don"?
"don" is commonly confused with "du", "dos", "dor". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "don"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "don" is /dɒn/ ouvir ^(fonte ?). Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "don" come from?
"don" is a Portuguese word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Portuguese words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "don", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list