damvsdigConfusable pair

Quick tell: dam is a noun, dig is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#34,654
“dam” frequency rank
#34,238
“dig” frequency rank
68892
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dam dig
Definition senhora cavar, escavar

Letter map: dam vs dig

Shared letters muted; letters that set dam and dig apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. dam and dig follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
dam
3 ch
dig

Part-of-speech tell for dam / dig

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dam is anoun and digaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68892, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dam is recorded at frequency rank #34,654, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɑːm/ ouvir^(fonte ?). dig is at rank #34,238, tagged as averb.

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 68892, this pair ranks #4,115 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dam vs dig

Shared letters: d. Private to "dam": am. Private to "dig": gi.

"dam" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "dig" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dam" for "dig" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dam" is a noun and "dig" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "dam" or "dig" show up more?
"dig" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,238 in our Portuguese list, against #34,654 for "dam". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "dam" vs "dig" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,115 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dam" and "dig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dam vs dat". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #4,115 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