dem vs den, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“dem” and “den” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,268
“dem” frequency rank: #19,112
“den” frequency rank: 26380
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dem	den
Definition	o, ao, do, artigo definido masculino do caso dativo singular	o, artigo definido masculino do caso acusativo singular:

Where the eye mixes dem and den

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch

dem

3 ch

den

Look-alike desk: dem vs den

A purely visual mix-up. dem (/deːm/) and den (/deːn/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - m in “dem” becomes n in “den”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26380, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dem is recorded at frequency rank #7,268, classified as anarticle, pronounced /deːm/. den is at rank #19,112, tagged as anarticle, pronounced /deːn/ ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 26380, this pair ranks #42,786 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dem vs den

Shared letters: de. Private to "dem": m. Private to "den": n.

"dem" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "den" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dem" and "den" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/deːm/ versus /deːn/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Frequency check: "dem" vs "den" - which ranks higher?

"dem" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,268 in our Portuguese list, against #19,112 for "den". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "dem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "den" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #42,786 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"dem" and "den" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs den". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #42,786 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.