dança vs doca, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“dança” and “doca” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,462
“dança” frequency rank: #23,985
“doca” frequency rank: 25447
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dança	doca
Definition	arte que consiste em movimentos do corpo, geralmente em sintonia com uma música	parte abrigada de um porto, dispondo de cais acostável, onde se podem recolher embarcações para fugir do mau tempo ou para carregar e descarregar mercadorias

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set dança and doca apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

dança

4 ch

doca

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. dança (/ˈdɐ̃.sɐ/) and doca (/ˈdɔ.kɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25447, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dança is recorded at frequency rank #1,462, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɐ̃.sɐ/. doca is at rank #23,985, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɔ.kɐ/.

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 25447, this pair ranks #43,857 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dança vs doca

Shared letters: ad. Private to "dança": nç. Private to "doca": co.

"dança" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "doca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

doca ← dcoa · ddoca · doac · docca · odca

Frequency comparison

dança#1,462

doca#23,985

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dança" and "doca" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈdɐ̃.sɐ/ versus /ˈdɔ.kɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "dança" or "doca"?

"dança" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,462 in our Portuguese list, against #23,985 for "doca". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering dança vs doca

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “dança” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable