Which to use
“day” and “dia” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,512
- “day” frequency rank
- #51
- “dia” frequency rank
- 2563
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | day | dia |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | dia (período de 24 horas) | espaço de tempo correspondente à rotação da Terra, que equivale a 23 horas, 56 minutos e 4 segundos |
Where the eye mixes day and dia
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between day and dia
A purely visual mix-up. day (/deɪ/) and dia (/'dʒi.a/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
day is recorded at frequency rank #2,512, classified as anoun, pronounced /deɪ/. dia is at rank #51, tagged as anoun, pronounced /'dʒi.a/.
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 2563, this pair ranks #72,787 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of day vs dia
Shared letters: ad. Private to "day": y. Private to "dia": i.
"day" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "dia" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "day" for "dia" ever safe?
Frequency check: "day" vs "dia" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "day" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dia" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #72,787 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "day" and "dia" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs day". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #72,787 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.