Which to use
“damn” is an adjective and “dun” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,429
- “damn” frequency rank
- #45,320
- “dun” frequency rank
- 72749
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | damn | dun |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | merda de, porra de, raio de | penugem imatura em pássaros jovens |
Where the eye mixes damn and dun
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. damn runs 4 letters (CVCC) against dun's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses damn with dun
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: damn is /dæm/ while dun is /duːn/, [d̥uːˀn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72749, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
damn is recorded at frequency rank #27,429, classified as anadj, pronounced /dæm/. dun is at rank #45,320, tagged as anoun, pronounced /duːn/, [d̥uːˀn].
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 72749, this pair ranks #2,963 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of damn vs dun
Shared letters: dn. Private to "damn": am. Private to "dun": u.
"damn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "dun" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- damn ← admn · dammn · damnn · danm · ddamn · dman
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "damn" and "dun" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "damn" or "dun" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "damn" and "dun" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "damn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,963 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "damn" and "dun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs dun". 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 #2,963 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.