dat vs do, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“dat” is a pronoun and “do” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,908
“dat” frequency rank: #6
“do” frequency rank: 49914
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dat	do
Definition	aquele; pronome neutro que se refere a algo ou alguém distante de quem fala	contração da preposição de com o artigo definido o

Where the eye mixes dat and do

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

dat

2 ch

Why the eye confuses dat with do

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dat is [dɑt] while do is /du/ (/do/, se enfático). 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 (pronoun vs contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49914, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dat is recorded at frequency rank #49,908, classified as apron, pronounced [dɑt]. do is at rank #6, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /du/ (/do/, se enfático).

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 49914, this pair ranks #15,071 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dat vs do

Shared letters: d. Private to "dat": at. Private to "do": o.

"dat" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "do" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dat" and "do" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dat" is a pronoun and "do" a contraction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "dat" or "do" show up more?

"do" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6 in our Portuguese list, against #49,908 for "dat". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

Full dictionary entry for "dat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "do" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #15,071 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"dat" and "do" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "damo vs dat". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #15,071 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.