dem vs do, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#7,268
“dem” frequency rank: #6
“do” frequency rank: 7274
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	dem	do
Definition	o, ao, do, artigo definido masculino do caso dativo singular	contração da preposição de com o artigo definido o

Where the eye mixes dem and do

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

3 ch

dem

2 ch

Visual trap between dem and do

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dem is /deːm/ 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 (article vs contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7274, 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/. 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 7274, this pair ranks #66,895 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dem vs do

Shared letters: d. Private to "dem": em. Private to "do": o.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dem" for "do" ever safe?

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

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

"do" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6 in our Portuguese list, against #7,268 for "dem". 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 "dem" 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 #66,895 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"dem" and "do" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs dem". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #66,895 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.