dat vs dom, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#49,908
“dat” frequency rank: #1,921
“dom” frequency rank: 51829
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dat	dom
Definition	aquele; pronome neutro que se refere a algo ou alguém distante de quem fala	casa (construção que serve de moradia)

Where the eye mixes dat and dom

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

3 ch

dat

3 ch

dom

Look-alike desk: dat vs dom

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dat is [dɑt] while dom is /dɔm/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51829, 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]. dom is at rank #1,921, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɔm/.

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 51829, this pair ranks #13,276 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of dat vs dom

Shared letters: d. Private to "dat": at. Private to "dom": mo.

"dat" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "dom" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "dat" and "dom" mean the same thing in a sentence?

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

Frequency check: "dat" vs "dom" - which ranks higher?

"dom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,921 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.

What to do next

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 "dom" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #13,276 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"dat" and "dom" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "damo vs dat". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #13,276 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.