danovsdiaboWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: dano is a noun, diabo is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dano” is a noun and “diabo” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,994
“dano” frequency rank
#3,894
“diabo” frequency rank
8888
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dano diabo
Definition mal ou ofensa pessoal expressão de raiva/ira; droga!; pombas!

Where the eye mixes dano and diabo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. dano runs 4 letters (CVCV) against diabo's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
dano
5 ch
diabo

Why the eye confuses dano with diabo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dano is /ˈdɐ.nu/ while diabo is /'ʤja.bʊ/. 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 (noun vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8888, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dano is recorded at frequency rank #4,994, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɐ.nu/. diabo is at rank #3,894, tagged as anintj, pronounced /'ʤja.bʊ/.

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 8888, this pair ranks #64,731 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dano vs diabo

Shared letters: ado. Private to "dano": n. Private to "diabo": bi.

"dano" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "diabo" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dano ← adno · danno · daon · ddano · dnao
  • diabo ← daibo · ddiabo · diabbo · diaob · dibao · idabo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dano" for "diabo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dano" is a noun and "diabo" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "dano" or "diabo"?
"diabo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,894 in our Portuguese list, against #4,994 for "dano". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dano" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "diabo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #64,731 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dano" and "diabo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dano 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 #64,731 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