dadovsdashConfusable pair

Quick tell: dado is a adjective, dash is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dado” is an adjective and “dash” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,067
“dado” frequency rank
#21,982
“dash” frequency rank
23049
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dado dash
Definition que foi entregado travessão, hífen

Where the eye mixes dado and dash

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

4 ch
dado
4 ch
dash

Look-alike desk: dado vs dash

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dado is /ˈda.dʊ/ while dash is /ˈdæʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23049, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dado is recorded at frequency rank #1,067, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈda.dʊ/. dash is at rank #21,982, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdæʃ/.

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 23049, this pair ranks #46,848 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dado vs dash

Shared letters: ad. Private to "dado": o. Private to "dash": hs.

"dado" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "dash" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dadoaddo · daddo · daod · ddado · ddao
  • dashadsh · dahs · dashh · dassh · ddash · dsah

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dado" for "dash" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dado" is an adjective and "dash" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "dado" or "dash" show up more?
"dado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,067 in our Portuguese list, against #21,982 for "dash". 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 "dado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dash" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #46,848 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dado" and "dash" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dash vs dat". 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 #46,848 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list