Which to use
“deus” is a noun and “duas” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #128
- “deus” frequency rank
- #188
- “duas” frequency rank
- 316
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deus | duas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | numa religião, ser sobrenatural de poderes sobre-humanos | feminino de dois/dous; representado pelo símbolo 2 (algarismos indo-arábicos) ou II (algarismos romanos) |
Where the eye mixes deus and duas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses deus with duas
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deus is /ˈdews/ while duas is /ˈdu.ɐʃ/. 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 (noun vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 316, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deus is recorded at frequency rank #128, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdews/. 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 316, this pair ranks #75,326 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of deus vs duas
Shared letters: dsu. Private to "deus": e. Private to "duas": a.
"deus" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "duas" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "deus" for "duas" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "deus" or "duas" show up more?
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 "deus" 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 #75,326 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deus" and "duas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs duas". 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 #75,326 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.