deadvsduasWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: dead is a adjective, duas is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dead” is an adjective and “duas” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,859
“dead” frequency rank
#188
“duas” frequency rank
7047
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dead duas
Definition morto feminino de dois/dous; representado pelo símbolo 2 (algarismos indo-arábicos) ou II (algarismos romanos)

Letter map: dead vs duas

Shared letters muted; letters that set dead and duas apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
dead
4 ch
duas

Grammar separator: dead vs duas

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dead is anadjective and duasanum. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7047, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dead is recorded at frequency rank #6,859, classified as anadj. duas is at rank #188, tagged as anum, pronounced /ˈdu.ɐʃ/.

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 7047, this pair ranks #67,197 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dead vs duas

Shared letters: ad. Private to "dead": e. Private to "duas": su.

"dead" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "duas" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • deaddaed · ddead · deadd · deda · edad
  • duasdaus · dduas · duass · dusa · udas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dead" and "duas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dead" is an adjective and "duas" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "dead" or "duas" show up more?
"duas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #188 in our Portuguese list, against #6,859 for "dead". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pair "dead" vs "duas" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dead" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "duas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #67,197 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dead" and "duas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs dead". 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 #67,197 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