diavsdigConfusable pair

Quick tell: dia is a noun, dig is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“dia” is a noun and “dig” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#51
“dia” frequency rank
#34,238
“dig” frequency rank
34289
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dia dig
Definition espaço de tempo correspondente à rotação da Terra, que equivale a 23 horas, 56 minutos e 4 segundos cavar, escavar

Letter map: dia vs dig

Shared letters muted; letters that set dia and dig apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
dia
3 ch
dig

Role in the sentence - dia and dig

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: dia is anoun and digaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - a in “dia” becomes g in “dig”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34289, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dia is recorded at frequency rank #51, classified as anoun, pronounced /'dʒi.a/. dig is at rank #34,238, tagged as averb.

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 34289, this pair ranks #33,024 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of dia vs dig

Shared letters: di. Private to "dia": a. Private to "dig": g.

"dia" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "dig" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "dia" for "dig" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "dia" is a noun and "dig" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "dia" or "dig" show up more?
"dia" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #51 in our Portuguese list, against #34,238 for "dig". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pair "dia" vs "dig" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "dia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #33,024 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dia" and "dig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dat vs dig". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #33,024 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